Florida man contracted flesh-eating bacteria without going into water

Florida man contracted flesh-eating bacteria without going in the water after paddle-boarding across a lake

• Tyler King, of Santa Rosa Beach, Florida felt his left arm turning red and swelling at work on June 28
• After allergy medicine didn’t help, he was rushed to the emergency room 
• Doctors diagnosed him with an infection from Vibrio bacteria, which are found in warm waters along the coast 
• King says he paddled across a lake the day he went to the ER, but didn’t go swimming in the water 

A Florida man said he contracted a flesh-eating bacteria without even going into the water.

Tyler King, of Santa Rosa Beach, was at work on June 28 when his upper left arm began swelling and turning red.  

He took Benadryl and tried to sleep off the pain but, just a couple of hours later, he said his arm tripled in size. 

King was rushed to the emergency room, where he was diagnosed with an infection from Vibrio bacteria, which are found in warm waters along the coast and can enter the body through the smallest cut.  

Tyler King (pictured), of Santa Rosa Beach, Florida felt his left arm turning red and swelling at work on Friday, June 28

After allergy medicine didn’t help and his arm ‘tripled in size’ (pictured), he was rushed to the emergency room

King, who owns a water sports equipment rental service, said he paddled across a lake the day his arm started swelling, but he never got into the water.

Within a half hour, his left bicep started feeling sore. 

‘When I was a little bit younger, I probably would have tried to tough it out,’ he told CBS News of the pain he felt.

‘Well, that would have been the worst thing that I could do. If I had gone to sleep… and had woke up with it at the rate [the rash] was spreading, I might not have an arm right now.’ 

Vibrio bacteria are found in coastal waters and multiply during the warm months, typically between May and October.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC0, most people become infected with the bacteria after eating raw or undercooked shellfish.

Symptoms can included nausea, vomiting, fever and watery diarrhea. The onset is usually 24 hours after the food had been eaten and last no more than three days, the CDC says.

However, some species of Vibrio can cause skin infections if an open wound is exposed to salt water or brackish water, which is a combination of fresh and sea water.

This can lead to necrotizing fasciitis, in which bacteria damages and kills the skin and tissue covering the muscles, and why Vibrio is referred to as a flesh-eating bacteria. 

King shared a post on Facebook of the rash on his arm and himself in the hospital. As of Thursday morning, the post has more than 3,600 reactions and more than 9,300 shares.   

Doctors diagnosed King (pictured) with an infection from Vibrio bacteria, which are found in warm waters along the coast

King (pictured) says he paddled across a lake the day he went to the emergency room, but didn’t go swimming in the water

‘My BIGGEST reason for sharing this story is to shed some light on how I was infected,’ he wrote.

‘As a local paddle guide and adventure enthusiast, I am always in the water. This day, or the days leading up to it, I was not.

‘The infection from the bacteria did not reach the point of it causing [necrotizing fasciitis] and actually destroying my muscle tissue and arm only because I acted quickly on getting medical treatment.’  

Within the past few weeks, there have been dozens of cases of people contracting the same flesh-eating bacteria in the Sunshine State.   

Last week, 12-year-old Kylei Brown, of Indiana, was diagnosed with a Vibrio bacteria infection after going for a swim at a beach in Destin.

Just days later, 77-year-old Lynn Fleming was infected by a bacteria after she fell and scraped her leg while walking on Coquina Beach along the Gulf Coast. 

She was taken to a hospital the next day where she was diagnosed with the flesh-eating disease and died after suffering two strokes and organ failure.  

Source: Read Full Article