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Beachgoers should beware of bacteria
Published July 19, 2007
Though summer months bring out more beachgoers and fishermen wading in area waters, it also fuels breeding grounds for a bacteria known as the “flesh-eating” bacteria.
A Nacogdoches man contracted the rare Vibrio vulnificus bacterium July 8 while he was visiting Crystal Beach in Galveston County, the Associated Press reported. Steve Gilpatrick, 58, was diagnosed with necrotizing fasciitis, a tissue-destroying disease caused by the bacteria.
Gilpatrick’s physician, Dr. David Herndon, the chief of burn services and professor of surgery at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, said Tuesday the situation is life-threatening because the infection spread to Gilpatrick’s blood. Gilpatrick is suffering from multiple organ failure, and doctors are trying to save his leg.
Though there have been reports of the bacterium around the Texas Gulf Coast in the past, there has been no known contraction of it in Brazoria County waters this year, said Jan Prejean, a public health preparedness nurse with the county health department.
“It doesn’t surprise me we’re seeing the bacteria,” she said. “It’s always present in the soil. The temperature has a lot to do with it.”
The county’s health department does not regularly run tests for the bacteria, she said. A Dayton fisherman was treated for the bacteria after wading in waters near Freeport in 2004.
Vibrio thrives on heated saltwater and can infect someone only through an open wound of a person who has a compromised immune system from factors such as diabetes or liver problems, Prejean said.
“People who have existing medical problems are more likely to get it,” she said. “You have to have an entry point. It’s just not going to jump on you and eat you up.”
Surfside Village resident Linda Wood said she doesn’t swim in the waters in front of her home, but she does often walk in it. Since there have been reports of Vibrio infections in the past couple of years, Wood said she takes precautions.
“If I have any kind of sore, I don’t walk in the water,” she said.
A former mayor and business owner in Quintana said there was a little bit of apprehension about the bacteria a few years ago, but over the years, that fear has subsided.
“With all of the public exposure of it, people have become aware,” James Nevil said.
The bacteria is prevalent in Gulf Coast waters and is not limited to any part of the Texas coast, the Texas Department of Health has said.
Three forms of the bacteria infected 22 people just days after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast in August 2005, causing the death of five people in Louisiana and Mississippi, the CDC reported.
According to a study conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2003-04, almost all the reported contractions of Vibrio came from coastal states, with one in Nebraska. Of those cases, 62 percent were in Gulf Coast states, and Hawaii, Florida and Texas had the highest number of infections.
The bacteria can cause fever, vomiting, diarrhea and could lead to amputation of the infected area, according to the CDC.
Still, while most cases of Vibrio vulnificus occur along the Gulf Coast, infections are rare, the CDC says. In Texas, there were 22 cases of the infection reported in 2006, with at least seven caused by water contact, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services.
People also can contract the bacterium by eating infected shellfish such as oysters, according to the CDC’s Web site.
When a person becomes infected, the wound where the bacterium gains entry will become red and swollen and will not heal, Prejean said.
“When you have a wound that won’t heal, you need to seek medical advice,” she said.
Those infected with Vibrio can be treated with antibiotics, Prejean said.
If someone did contract the bacteria swimming in Brazoria County waters, there would be signs posted warning about the presence of the bacteria, and the Community Awareness and Emergency Response hotline would put out a warning as well, she said.
To avoid contracting the virus, beachgoers should check to see if there have been any reported infections and wear shoes in the water to prevent wounds, Prejean said. Those with weakened immune systems or who have open wounds should take caution when going into the water, she said.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
John Tompkins covers Brazoria County for The Facts. Contact him at (979) 849-8581.
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