Lagos - A flesh-eating bacterial disease has infected
another Washington, D.C.-area man, local media reported
on Thursday, just days after a man was released from a
hospital following a near-deadly bout with the germ.
Joe Wood of Stafford, Virginia, said he was swimming in
the Potomac River near the town of Callao earlier this
month when a scratch on his left leg became infected with
vibrio vulnificus, an aggressive bacteria that feeds on
flesh, Washington D.C.'s WTOP radio reported.
Wood was admitted to the Mary Washington Hospital in
Fredericksburg on July 5 where an infectious disease
specialist performed skin graft surgery on Tuesday, the
report said. Doctors told the radio station that Wood
would likely survive.
The report could not be immediately confirmed as the
hospital did not return repeated calls by a Reuters reporter
on Thursday.
The news comes just days after a 66-year-old Maryland
man was released from a hospital after nearly losing a leg
and his life to the flesh-eating bacterial infection that he
contracted in Chesapeake Bay earlier in the month.
The bacterial strain causes severe illness characterized by
fever and chills, septic shock and lesions. Symptoms
include vomiting and diarrhea.
Vibrio cases are on the rise in the region. In a 2009 study,
the Chesapeake Bay Foundation found that the increase in
infections was linked to pollution and unusually hot
summers
In Maryland, the number of all vibrio cases, including the
strain that afflicted the two men, reached 57 last year, a
10-year high, according to the Maryland Department of
Health and Mental Hygiene.
Virginia had eight vibrio vulnificus cases last year,
according to the Virginia Department of Health. There have
been 27 cases involving vibrio species overall so far this
year.
Nationwide, there are as many as 95 cases of vibrio
vulnificus infections each year, 35 of which result in death,
according to CDC statistics.
- Health24
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