Galveston reports no rise in flesh-eating bacteria this year

Harris County Public Health is investigating the death of a Houston-area man who may have died from vibrio — a flesh-eating bacterial infection.

Martha Marquez, HCPH communications specialist, could not confirm the man’s identity, where he lived or cause of death.

Vibrio vulnificus is naturally present in salt and brackish water around the world, and the University of Texas Medical Branch tests for the most cases of vibrio in the country, according to Dr. Alfred Scott Lea, professor of infectious diseases.

UTMB and the Galveston County Health Department are not seeing an uptick in vibrio cases this year. The Texas A&M University-Galveston Seafood Safety Lab will periodically test oysters for vibrio, but the team also found this is a typical year for the flesh-eating bacteria.

“Oysters live in the mud, filtering through bacteria and thrives on it,” Lea said. “Oysters living in areas where vibrio is proliferating are full of it. If a person has an underlying disease and ingested a raw oyster, it could lead to a gastrointestinal problem that leads to sepsis and could kill them.”

Janae Pulliam, GCHD spokesperson, said the department is not sounding alarms about vibrio since there have been zero Galveston County deaths attributed to the bacteria so far this year. Na

tionwide, vibrio vulnificus causes roughly 80,000 illnesses each year and results in 100 deaths, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports.

Since vibrio is naturally occurring in beach water, the department doesn’t typically test for it.

“The bacteria will always be there, the Gulf is filled with bacteria,” Pulliam said. “We don’t sound the alarm because 99 percent of people who go to the ocean will be fine. If you have diabetes or cirrhosis, or you go out there with an open wound, you leave the door open for any bacteria.”

Vibrio is mostly seasonal, Lea said, because the organism that causes the infection requires higher temperatures to proliferate.

If a person contracts the bacteria, either through an open cut or wound or by ingestion, they can become very ill within 24 hours especially if they have an underlying health condition, like liver disease or diabetes, Lea said.

Early symptoms include watery diarrhea, stomach cramps, nausea, vomiting and fever, according to the CDC. If the bacteria reaches the bloodstream, it can cause dangerously low blood pressure and blistering skin lesions, as well as discharge.

“It can kill a person within 24 hours, so it’s important to let your health care provider know immediately if you have been in the water in the Gulf Coast where the vibrio lives,” Lea said. “Vibrio requires special antibiotics to make it go away.”

Eighty percent of vibrio infections occur between May and October when the Gulf waters are hotter, according to GCHD. Vibrio organisms live in the mud, but it is stirred around in the water after days of hard rain, Lea said.

At UTMB, more than half of vibrio patients suffer an amputation of their hand, arm or large patches of skin, he said. Ten percent of those patients die because they are not treated fast enough.

Vibrio requires a large amount of iron to grow in human tissue, Lea said, which makes people with chronic inflammation, liver diseases, diabetes or cancer patients who have multiple blood infusions or chemotherapy most at risk.

“it’s important to let your health care provider know immediately if you have been in the water in the Gulf Coast where the vibrio lives.”

Alfred Scott Lea, UTMB professor of infectious diseases