English: Beach at Destin, Florida: sand, ocean, sky, clouds (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
My son, who lives in Florida, called me last night and said there had been nine deaths there from people simply going into the ocean water. Of course that news won’t be widely reported (and I hadn’t seen anything about it up here in the northeast) since Florida is a tourist state. And the ratio of people who die, to people who swim in the ocean, is very small. This deadly, flesh-eating, bacteria gets into your body through an open wound and if you are not a healthy person, it could kill you.
My son goes fishing a lot, and the sea water is so warm, that he is in and out of it all the time. Pulling up to one of the many little islands along the ICW is the perfect place to cast a line. This bacteria news is a bit scary, but with all the millions of people visiting the coastline, only 9 have died. It seems pretty safe for the average person, and once the water cools off the bacteria will vanish.
In the meantime, don’t eat raw fish. As the fish feed (this includes shellfish) they filter out this bacteria which is not harmful if the fish is cooked.
Not everyone will die if they are infected, but you sure won’t feel very well. Symptoms include redness and swelling at the infected site – like a bad bug bite, and then they expand to cover your body. Read more and view a video here.
Related articles
- Lagoon bacteria infects 2 Brevard men (clickorlando.com)
- Florida Vacation Rental House Review, Part 1 (seashellsbymillhill.com)
- Virus in sea water in Florida making people sick? (sachemspeaks.wordpress.com)
