Lifelong boat captain George Billiris says he’s lucky to be alive after Vibrio vulnificus, the so-called “flesh-eating” bacteria that lurks in warm coastal waters like those along Florida’s Gulf Coast, nearly killed him.
“I started to get chills, feverish, my leg was swelling, burning,” the third-generation sponge fisherman told CBS News.
Billiris was wading in the water while fishing with his grandson back in July 2019 when he contracted the bacteria, which got into his system through a cut he had on his back leg. It was “just a little tiny scab,” Billiris said.
At the hospital, doctors used a marker on his leg to track the spread of the bacteria. After three weeks of treatment, the infection subsided, saving his leg from amputation.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one in five people who contract the bacteria die after rapid spread of the infection.
During hurricane season, the danger of contracting Vibrio vulnificus heightens, according to Dr. Valerie Harwood, a microbiologist at the University of South Florida. Research also shows the ocean’s water temperature is rising due to climate change, which leads to more frequent and severe storms.
Harwood said that because the bacteria thrives in warmer waters, it means more infections are seen in places that haven’t experienced them before as water temperatures rise in those regions.
“With warming waters, we are seeing cases further north,” Harwood said.
In recent years, cases have been reported in the Carolinas, and even as far north as Connecticut and New York. This year, there have been 17 cases in Louisiana, 16 in Florida and seven in North Carolina. Florida has reported five deaths so far, the most of any state.
The bacteria can also spread through uncooked seafood, mainly oysters.
These days, Billiris says he is more cautious in the water, but he still sails his family’s boat nearly every day. He hopes others will recognize the symptoms of an infection, because earlier treatment could mean the difference between life and death.
“Lot of people waited because they didn’t know,” he said.
Cristian Benavides is a CBS News correspondent based in Miami.
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