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Five cases of Vibrio vulnificus infections have been reported since July, with patients from Fairfield, Middlesex and New Haven counties between the ages of 49 and 85. Four were male and one female. Two patients had septicemia, an infection of the bloodstream, while three had serious wound infections. All five patients were hospitalized, and all five cases reported exposure to salt or brackish water during activities such as swimming, crabbing, and boating. All five patients had pre-existing wounds or sustained new wounds during these activities, which officials say led to the Vibrio infections. Vibrio vulnificus infection is an extremely rare...

Between Oct. 2 and Nov. 24, nine people who injected the drug were admitted to local hospitals with severe myonecrosis, according to a news release from the San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency. Seven of them died. Myonecrosis is a bacterial infection that destroys muscle tissue. The nine patients ranged in age from 19 to 57 years old, and five of them were male, officials said. “People who use black tar heroin are not only at higher risk of dying from an overdose, but also more prone to developing myonecrosis and wound botulism,” said Wilma Wooten, the county’s...

The 71-year-old man ate the oysters on July 8 at a Sarasota restaurant, which health officials did not identify, and died two days later. "We have an individual that consumed some raw oysters and to the best of our knowledge had no exposure to salt water, became severely ill, and passed away," said Michael Drennon, Disease Intervention Services Program Manager at the Sarasota County Health Dept. "We tell everybody regardless of age or immune status that they should avoid eating raw or undercooked shell fish or seafood or avoid or being in the salt water when they have an open...

Back in September, Texas residents Vicki Bergquist and wife Jeanette LeBlanc were visiting family in Louisiana. They went crabbing with friends and family on the coast, picking up a sack of raw oysters in a market in Westwego. It wasn't long after when LeBlanc's health rapidly declined, CBS affiliate KLFY-TV reports. The couple's friend Karen Bowers says she and LeBlanc shucked and ate about two dozen raw oysters. "About 36 hours later she started having extreme respiratory distress, had a rash on her legs and everything," Bergquist said. "An allergic reaction of sorts, that's what I would call it. That's...

As they normally do, they stayed at the Days Inn on Gulf-to-Bay Boulevard. Richard says Carol even spent some time relaxing in the hotel hot tub. But when they got home to Indianapolis, Richard says she found an unusual sore. "She had like a pimple come up on her right butt cheek. She said it was kind of painful," he said. After two doctor visits and various antibiotics, he says the sore continued to grow. ... Carol was rushed into surgery and spent 16 days in the ICU. Then just days after being released, the virus was too much for...

Back in September, Texas residents Vicki Bergquist and wife Jeanette LeBlanc were visiting family in Louisiana. They went crabbing with friends and family on the coast, picking up a sack of raw oysters in a market in Westwego. It wasn't long after when LeBlanc's health rapidly declined, CBS affiliate KLFY reports. The couple's friend Karen Bowers says she and LeBlanc shucked and ate about two dozen raw oysters. "About 36 hours later she started having extreme respiratory distress, had a rash on her legs and everything," Bergquist said. "An allergic reaction of sorts, that's what I would call it. That's...

“To say that someone acquired it in New Hampshire and we have flesh-eating bacteria isn’t exactly accurate,” said Beth Daly, chief of the Infectious Disease Bureau for the New Hampshire Division of Public Health. “You never will know where the bacteria came from, but most people are getting the bacteria first from themselves.” Here’s what we do know: It was June 4 when Atkins came to New Hampshire to celebrate a family wedding. And, Atkins said, while here he went for a hike on Mount Garfield located at the western edge of the White Mountains in Grafton County. Atkins said...

Bellingham Boy Fighting Flesh-Eating Bacteria SEATTLE, Wash. -- What started as a 'fat lip' from a fall, now has a local 6 year old Jake Finkbonner fighting to survive. The boy has necrotizing faciitis, a bacteria that is attacking his face. His family says the bacteria was consuming him before their eyes. The infection is so aggressive, antibiotics aren't enough. He’s had three surgeries so far to try to save his life. Jake’s father, Donny, (says)......all of us are praying for him, and we’re just in God’s hands.” Jake’s mother, Elsa says, “he didn’t have any facial features that were...

Tyler Durden 07/30/2014 As Ebola spreads mercilessly across the world, it appears Florida has a problem that sounds just as awful. As CBS reports, Florida health officials are warning beachgoers about a seawater bacterium that can invade cuts and scrapes to cause flesh-eating disease. At least 11 Floridians have contracted Vibrio vulnificus so far this year and two have died, according to the most recent state data. Not exactly great news for Florida beach season... Vibrio vulnificus –- a cousin of the bacterium that causes Cholera –- thrives in warm saltwater, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and...

Benjamin LaMontagne, who died at his home in February four days after wisdom tooth extraction, was killed by a tissue infection of his gums, neck and jaw... after routine oral surgery, was killed by a rare, aggressive bacterial infection that caused swelling of his jaw and neck, according to the state Medical Examiner’s Office. The medical examiner’s report, released Thursday to the Portland Press Herald in response to a public records request, lists the cause of death as cervical necrotizing fasciitis, commonly called “flesh-eating bacteria.” The infection is caused by a powerful strain of streptococcus A, a group of pathogens...

A dear friend of ours has been hospitalized and had emergency surgery this morning. The doctors removed the muscle of his right forearm and most of the tissue around his left hip. They say that he will not be able to use the fingers of his right hand and that he will not walk again. They say the disease will remain in his system for up to six weeks, so his ordeal is far from over. Please pray for him. He is a very, very good and kind man. Our friend is a master electrician, and he is a young...

SAN DIEGO (CBS) – Tevita Alatini, a 7-year-old originally from Texas, died after developing a mysterious rash under his arm while vacationing with family July 9 at Camp Pendleton’s Lake O’Neill Recreational Park near San Diego. Alatini was with his family when he developed a small rash that spread quickly. When he complained of a pain in his side, his family rushed him to the emergency room where he died a short time later. A medical examiner in San Diego is waiting for tests to help determine Alatini’s cause of death. “It sounds like an overwhelming strep or staph infection,”...

A third case of flesh-eating bacteria has emerged with ties to Georgia, myFOXatlanta reported. A landscaper from Cartersville is in critical condition at Doctors Hospital in Augusta battling the potentially deadly disease. That's the same place University of West Georgia graduate student Aimee Copeland is being treated. A Piedmont, S.C. mom is also fighting the infection days after giving birth in Atlanta at Emory University Hospital Midtown.

A man suing after a major medical mistake left him disfigured gave testimony Thursday that revealed the intimate details of his misery. Late Thursday afternoon, Enrique Milla testified at the Miami-Dade County Courthouse from his new home in Lima, Peru via Skype. He said he wanted a penile implant to improve his sex life in 2007. "About a year before I realized I had problems," Milla said through a translator. "I had problems having intimate relations with my wife. As time went by, that problem got worse." Milla's attorney argues that an anesthesiologist overlooked his client's pre-existing medical conditions, which...

A few days later, Lana was released and went home to South Carolina. The next morning she noticed an unusual spot on her leg. "It kind of look like a bruise with a red outline," said Moon. Friends said that when we first noticed the spot, it was about the size of her palm. Six hours later, after checking into Greenville Memorial Hospital, it was the size of a sheet of paper. Doctors determined she had flesh-eating bacteria. They performed four surgeries in six days. Surgeons have removed tissue from her leg to keep the bacteria from spreading.

Close window Published online: 4 April 2007; | doi:10.1038/news070402-6 Weak drug combos find new useAntibiotics that don't work could beat back resistant bacteria.John Whitfield You would think that a combination of antibiotics that is less effective than either drug on its own would be fairly useless. But researchers now say that such ineffectual mixes could be used in the campaign against resistance to the drugs. The counterintuitive conclusion comes from the observation — so far seen only in the lab — that less-effective drug mixes allow bacteria that are sensitive to drugs to out-compete those that are resistant them....

Source: Texas A&M Health Science Center Date: January 28, 2007 Bacteria In Staph Infections Can Cause Necrotizing Pneumonia Science Daily — Researchers at the Texas A&M Health Science Center Institute of Biosciences and Technology at Houston have discovered a toxin present in the bacteria responsible for the current nationwide outbreak of staph infections also has a role in an aggressive pneumonia that is often fatal within 72 hours. "The virulence of CA-MRSA (community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) strains that produce the PVL (Panton Valentine leukocidin) toxin presents a nightmare scenario," said M. Gabriela Bowden, Ph.D., research assistant professor at HSC-IBT and...

Scientists have unravelled the workings of a deadly superbug that attacks healthy young people and can kill within 24 hours. PVL-producing MRSA, a highly-virulent strain of the drug-resistant superbug, methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, has spread around the world and caused deaths in the UK, Europe, the US and Australia. PVL or panton-valentine leukocidin toxin destroys white blood cells and usually causes boils and other skin complaints. But if it infects open wounds it can cause necrotising pneumonia, a disease that rapidly destroys lung tissue and is lethal in 75% of cases. Thousands of infections have been recorded across the US, but...

Tie ban for doctors to stop spread of MRSA By Alex Berry Last Updated: 2:35am GMT 18/12/2006 Doctors have been ordered to ditch their ties over fears they are spreading the deadly hospital superbug MRSA. An NHS trust has also told all its staff involved in direct patient care not to wear jewellery, wrist watches, scarves or any "superfluous clothing". Even consultants have been warned that being smartly-dressed when giving patients bad news could present an infection risk. The move, by Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust, follows a report by the British Medical Association calling for doctors to...

POSTED: 12:01 am PST February 21, 2006 UPDATED: 9:25 am PST February 21, 2006 SEATTLE -- A 6-year-old Bellingham boy is fighting to survive a deadly infection that's killing the tissue in his face. Jake Finkbonner has necrotizing faciitis, a ravaging bacteria. Finkbonner was airlifted from Bellingham to Children's Hospital a week ago. He's had three surgeries so far to try to save his life. The problem started when the boy received a fat lip from a fall at a basketball game. Jake's father, Donny Finkbonner, said surgeons worked on his son the night he was brought to Children's Hospital...