A 66-year-old Texas man died from an infection caused by flesh-eating bacteria that he contracted while fishing on the Gulf Coast.
The man, identified by relatives as Randy Bunch, was crabbing and fishing in Freeport when he stepped into shallow water off a boat ramp to collect a crab trap.
His daughter, Brandy Pendergraft of Pearland, told the television station that her father had not spotted a little scrape on his right foot that had been there for days. Bunch rushed to the medical room after feeling pain a few hours later, according to the Houston-area outlet.
The doctor found nothing wrong, so she discharged and sent Bunch home. The next morning, he had a 104-degree fever and was disoriented. Bunch returned to the hospital, where physicians discovered he had contracted vibrio bacteria.
“The blisters were taking over his whole body,” Pendergraft told KHOU. “It was spreading.” “Just like a fire.”
Bunch died in June, little more than a week after stepping into the ocean, according to his daughter.
Brazoria County has reported nine cases of vibrio infections this year, up from seven in 2023, according to Cathy Sbrusch, director of the county’s public health services, in an email Tuesday.
Authorities in adjacent Galveston County warned last month that a flesh-eating bacterium epidemic on Texas’ Gulf Coast had affected almost a dozen individuals.
Coastal waterways naturally contain Vibrio bacteria, including salt water and brackish water, a mixture of salt and fresh water. Between May and October, when water temperatures are warmer, we find it in higher concentrations.
Vibrio can cause two different ailments. Consuming raw or undercooked shellfish, particularly oysters, is the most common cause of Vibrio. Symptoms include stomach pains, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, and dehydration.
The second, potentially more deadly infection arises when an exposed wound comes into contact with coastal waters. A Galveston County Health Department representative sent an email on Friday, stating that contact with water caused the majority of the cases in Galveston.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, symptoms may include fever and redness, discomfort, swelling, warmth, discoloration, and the flow of fluid around the wound.
Vibrio, commonly referred to as a “flesh-eating bacteria,” can, in the worst-case scenario, cause necrotizing fasciitis, a serious infection that causes the flesh surrounding an open incision to die. According to health officials, such severe infections are uncommon and typically occur in people who have pre-existing diseases that weaken their immune systems.
According to the announcement, Galveston officials are attempting to determine the source of the diseases and put safeguards in place to prevent future cases.
The CDC estimates that approximately 80,000 cases of vibrio occur in the United States each year, with more than half of those caused by consuming contaminated food.
Vibrio infections have resulted in a handful of deaths in and around Texas. In 2017, a 31-year-old Dallas man with chronic liver illness died after flesh-eating bacteria from the Gulf of Mexico entered his body via a new leg tattoo.
In the same year, a Texas woman died after eating raw oysters in Louisiana, and a 31-year-old Texas man died from an infection he contracted while working on Hurricane Harvey-damaged homes in Galveston.
