SARASOTA COUNTY, Fla. (SNN TV) – Three people on the Suncoast have contracted the rare so-called “flesh-eating bacteria,” with one having died in Sarasota County.
That’s according to the Florida Department of Health.
A press secretary for the Florida Department of Health in Tallahassee told the Herald-Tribune it’s “very easy to cure – it’s an antibiotic – but the key is catching it early.”
The bacteria is called vibrio vulnificus. It occurs naturally in coastal waters and is more prevalent in the summer. It can be found in raw or undercooked seafood, saltwater, and brackish water.
We say it’s “so-called” because it doesn’t actually eat the tissue; it needs to get into your body through an existing crack.
The CDC says about 80,000 people get vibrio infections each year and about 100 people die from the infection annually in the U.S. This year, one case occurred in Charlotte County, with two cases and one death in Sarasota.
