Flesh Eating Bacteria

RStyle · July 2019

Algae blooms, Red Tide and now Flesh Eating Bacteria. A young girl in Destin and a 53 yr old that died in Anna Maria.
Getting paranoid! Every time I get stung by a pinfish while I am catching bait, I assume I may lose my arm or die in a few days.
In a few years we may not be able to fish, swim, snorkel , wade, go boating, scuba dive, play at the beach..................

lemaymiami · July 2019

Look up vibrio infection for all the info needed about "flesh eating bacteria". The bacteria are in all warm salt or brackish waters and occasionally someone will get an infection through a break in the skin. The lifesaving maneuver that everyone needs to remember is at the FIRST sign of an infection that might be vibrio - get to a doctor or your local ER and have it checked out. Make a point of asking whoever treats you to "check for vibrio". If it's caught early it's very treatable. Wait 24 hours or until it's going strong - then go for treatment and you might be too late...

Watermen and others that work around the water are usually quite aware of what a potential vibrio infection might mean if left un-treated. Most ordinary folks simply don't know about vibrio....

Saltygatorvet · July 2019

It is bad in an open cut, but much much worse (almost 100% mortality) eating it in raw oysters or scallops

Soda Popinski · July 2019

We keep a 1st aid kit on the boat with iodine. any cut gets treated immediately, and if someone has a cut before getting in the water it gets sealed as best we can then treated after.

cknowles673 · July 2019

Flesh eating bacteria is rare, but I say just don't go in the water if you have a cut!!

lemaymiami · July 2019

Folks like me that work on the water have wet hands all day long, folks on vacation here are wading or swimming daily - and that’s a lot of people...

Anyone can get a minor cut, abrasion, or break in their skin without the slightest problem... but if you show the slightest sign of an infection -get to a doctor, don’t fool around, period. What makes a vibrio infection so dangerous is how fast it grows. Wait too long before treatment and it will simply overwhelm your defenses to the point that meds won’t help.

RStyle · July 2019

Someone mentioned to me once that they carry the stuff surgeons scrub with. It was some type of chemical name and not a brand although he said you could get it at the drugstore. I guess Betadine....the iodine soap may be good..........

Frank S · July 2019

Wife was a long time OR and intensive care nurse. She talked to a few dr's. and they had a couple good recommendations. One was Hibiclens, avail at drugstores. Another said he liked the Hibiclens, but a spray bottle of 50/50 bleach and water to use often on the boat was a good solution as well, especially if there was a wound on the hands. Either way, it can be a serious problem, warmer waters can cause the bacteria to multiply.

RStyle · July 2019

I looked up Hibiciens and that is what I was told ....Chlorhexidine......that surgeons use and you can get at a drugstore

I've read in some sites that chlorine is a strong alkali and should not be used on skin although maybe diluted.
I think I will be carrying Hibiciens on the boat. The odds of catching the bug are very small but when you look at the pictures 🤮😱 😱 😱😱

ANUMBER1 · July 2019

I use bleach..

MRichardson · July 2019

Bleach kills skin cells but who cares. Very little. Cuz vibrio kill them faster and worse.

Used to know this old girl up in Century, Fl once and...

Nope, i'm on thin ice. Ferris will destroy me if I finish.

tankard · July 2019

When we used to grouper fish a lot we washed our hands in bleach.

They're still there.

saltysenior · July 2019

years ago I went to a doc who treated most local comm.fisherman......showed him my ''Fish Poisoning"....he said that was a common ,but a wrong term for Staph Infection..... he recommended using Lysol instead of bleach.....also said the Staph will stay in your system so be careful...had another case 20 yrs.later.......looks like Vibro and Staph are related in ways.

lemaymiami · July 2019

Staph infections were
very common among mates on the docks I worked on years ago... particularly on their hands. It might have something to with every charter boat catching bait (blue runners mostly) in the “Rose Bowl” -the sewer outfall just offshore of Miami Beach.

Staph infections are a lot easier to deal with than vibrio (thank heavens)... but they are persistent and hard to get rid of.

That I know of though... the two infections are not the same at all...

Tony Roma · July 2019

So the warmer the water stays the more common flesh eating bacteria will become? We are screwed!

ANUMBER1 · July 2019

stay home then.

Kokosing Lover · July 2019

Vibrio is also generally found in coastal waters; farther out in the gulf you're unlikely to run into it. Stomping around in Old Tampa Bay, keep those cuts clean.

Tony Roma · July 2019

ANUMBER1 said:

stay home then.

It’s likely to have a few foot of warm standing water in it soon as well.

duckmanJR · July 2019

It is way to rare of an issue to be clutching your pearls and getting the vapors ...LADIES LOL

I'm catching fish 260- 280 days a year... not one bit afraid. If I see something...I'll get it handled.

ANUMBER1 · July 2019

Tony Roma said:

ANUMBER1 said:

stay home then.

It’s likely to have a few foot of warm standing water in it soon as well.

that's true.

MRichardson · July 2019

Kokosing Lover said:

Vibrio is also generally found in coastal waters; farther out in the gulf you're unlikely to run into it. Stomping around in Old Tampa Bay, keep those cuts clean.

This is why I only swim 35 miles offshore.

james 14 · July 2019

ANUMBER1 said:

Tony Roma said:

ANUMBER1 said:

stay home then.

It’s likely to have a few foot of warm standing water in it soon as well.

that's true.

I was expecting your next suggestion to be that he move. You're slipping.

ANUMBER1 · July 2019

not feeling grumpy..

tampaspicer · July 2019

Bleach has always been my go too. Nothing as ate me yet.

CaptJ · July 2019

Bleach will stop most things dead in their tracks. Don't know about Vibrio. Don't want to know.

lemaymiami · July 2019

Pretty simple... if you have a break in your skin and it becomes infected... and you’ve been in salt or brackish water - get it checked out at your ER or by your doctor. Don’t wait... Catch it early and meds will
clear vibrio most times. Wait a day or more and they may not be able to help you... It’s that simple.

MRichardson · July 2019

If I ever decide to take my own life, that's how I'd do it.
Slice my calves and go for a nice long wade.

duckmanJR · July 2019

There was a news story the other day about Vibrio in Oysters on the west coast.....

greyreefshark · July 2019

MRichardson said:

If I ever decide to take my own life, that's how I'd do it.
Slice my calves and go for a nice long wade.

😱 Duuude, that’d be a rough way to go!

greyreefshark · July 2019

Would an Antibiotic Ointment like Neosporin work as good at killing vibrio bacteria in an open wound, as say bleach or isopropyl alcohol?

Lostconch · July 2019

Flesh Eating Bacteria

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