‘Flesh-eating’ bacteria sends Outer Banks man to ICU

OUTER BANKS, N.C. (WITN) - A man has spent more than a week in an Outer Banks hospital after a small cut on his leg turned into a Vibrio vulnificus infection. Doctors say the flesh-eating bacterium can destroy tissue and become deadly in fewer than 48 hours.

WRAL reports new figures from the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services show 59 such illnesses and one death statewide through July 31. That is the second-highest midsummer total in five years.

Rachel Noble, a microbiologist at UNC-Chapel Hill’s Institute of Marine Sciences says sea-surface temperatures off Cape Hatteras have held in the mid-80s this summer, roughly two degrees above the 30-year average and that warmer winters no longer knock the bacteria back. That, she says, combined with heavy rain then dilutes salt levels in sounds and tidal creeks, while runoff feeds the microbes.

Health officials advise keeping any break in the skin out of salt or brackish water, washing with soap and fresh water after time in the surf, treating cuts with hydrogen peroxide, cooking shellfish thoroughly, and seeking medical help quickly if a wound turns red, swollen or blistered within 24 hours of water exposure.