Fisherman fighting flesh-eating bacteria infection as cases climb across the Southeast

WANCHESE, N.C. (WRAL) – A man has spent more than a week in a hospital on North Carolina’s Outer Banks after a small cut on his leg led to a dangerous infection.

He came into contact with Vibrio Vulnificus, a flesh-eating bacteria that can become deadly in less than 48 hours.

The Centers for Disease Control say it can kill one in five patients, sometimes very quickly.

The man’s fellow shrimper and close friend said he seems to be getting better, but the situation is still scary.

“There have been people here that died from that. They were a little bit older. It’s a bacteria in warm, brackish water. It’s bad, it makes you think. You got a cut on your hand, you’ve got to be careful,” Marc Mitchem, the patient’s friend, said.

Mitchem now wears gloves and sanitizes often to keep the bacteria away.

“Gotta keep doing what you’re doing and try to be smart,” he said.

Climate scientists say warmer water lets Vibrio multiply faster.

“Once the temperatures get, you know, upwards of 90 degrees Fahrenheit, they start to double in number really fast. So, the numbers tend to rise,” said Ava Ellett with NOAA.

Cases are climbing across the Southeast. Eight deaths have already been reported in Gulf states this year, well above the decade-long average.

Mitchem said he’s lost two fellow fishermen to Vibrio in the past two years. He urges everyone on the docks to take extra care when they suffer cuts.

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