[ad_1]
(CNN) – Two families came forward after their loved ones had been hospitalized to contract a flesh-eating bacteria.
Chart: Ohio man contracted flesh-eating bacteria in Florida
An incident occurred in the Gulf of Mexico and the other in Tampa Bay, Florida.
Barry Briggs, a native of Ohio, said that he got sick after a boat trip to Tampa in March and was taken to the Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton after his back home.
Briggs spent 11 days in the hospital.
He underwent a skin graft and was put on different antibiotics.
Fortunately, the doctors were able to save his foot.
Briggs was diagnosed with necrotizing fasciitis caused by group A of Streptococcus bacteria, which usually enters a small wound.
The story of Briggs came a few days after a Florida man was hospitalized at the Tampa General Hospital for a flesh-eating bacterial infection, which he contracted while he was in hospital. He was fishing in the Gulf of Mexico.
Mike Walton said he was caught by a hook about 30 kilometers from the coast of Palm Harbor.
"I had like little blisters that were starting to form on my hand and you could watch like sweat drops coming up on the side of your hand, then they just turned black," he said. .
The doctors told Walton that he was lucky to be alive and have his arm.
"When you look down and you can see your own tendons, the back of your hand and your bones coming up along your arm," said Walton, "that makes it real."
Walton is now recovering and will have to be treated with antibiotics for next month.
Briggs has sensitized Facebook to the disease to publish raw images of what the flesh-eating bacteria can do: leave your foot and shin skinless.
Necrotizing fasciitis is a rare infection and there are between 700 and 1200 cases each year in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
However, the researchers say they also believe that this underestimation is due to under-reported cases.
Copyright 2019 CNN. All rights reserved.
[ad_2]
Source link