WARNING: Flesh-Eating Bacteria in Gulf Of Mexico Water, Sand, Seafood Killing People. Officials Hiding Data.

Health officials and media are not exposing critically important facts to Gulf residents and tourists about a deadly flesh-eating bacteria, that hospitalized 32 and reportedly “killed 10” along Florida’s Gulf Coast in 2013.

Officials did finally warn locals to immediately see a medical professional if signs of the deadly bacteria appear – but how many tourists know – and why aren’t each of the ways the disease can enter the body being told? Even British tourists visiting Florida have been warned about the deadly flesh-eating marine bacteria that has, according to International Business Times – why not American tourists?

Health officials and media are not disclosing all the ways the deadly bacteria can enter the human body – such as by walking on the beach and coming in contact with BP’s tar.

Health officials have encouraged residents to contact a physician immediately if they are experiencing symptoms – but the adage “Prevention is worth 1000 cures” could be life-saving in this case.

The Florida Department of Health says the bacteria is naturally found in warm, “brackish” and salt water such as estuaries and coastal channels.

It can seriously infect people with open wounds – even a mosquito bite – who swim there, people who eat raw or undercooked shelfish, and people who touch tarballs on the beach – but officials are not warning people about that. In fact, tarballs have more than 100 times the bacteria than the water. 

If  raw or undercooked shellfish did not undergo a post-harvest treatment process, it can infect people, especially if they already suffer from a condition that weakens their immune system, such as hepatitis C, liver disease, diabetes, cancer, or stomach disorders.

Rapid onset

Wounds infected with Vibrio vulnificus are usually painful, swollen, and red. Other possible symptoms include nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea, fever, chills, and blistering skin lesions.

Health officials encourage residents to contact a physician immediately if experiencing these symptoms. Left to fester, the infection can break down the skin and lead to ulcers, “eat the flesh”.

The infection can quickly enter the bloodstream. That’s when it becomes life-threatening, especially for anyone with any with pre-existing conditions. Anyone can be vulnerable, as René Olier when he went fishing June 5.

Olier, 63, felt fine at 2:30 that afternoon, but awakened that night with chills – probably just from being in the sun all day, he and his wife thought.

The next morning, he began having gastrointestinal distress and pain near the hand he’d used to scoop bait out of the water- Probably from all the horse flies, he thought. By the time his wife returned from the store to get Benadryl, his arm was visibly swollen. Vibrio breaks down whatever is in its path, in this case René Olier’s arm.

“The first warning did not go out until June,” the health writer at Boston.com says.

Why not? People have been dying from this flesh-eater in increasing numbers since the BP’ catastrophic oil crime, as documented in the book Vampire of Macondo:

“In July 2011, a case involving wrongful death of an Ohio tourist who died after eating raw oysters, was settled for an undisclosed amount, according to attorneys at Pritzker Olsen, P.A. (1) The oysters were from the Gulf of Mexico, the attorneys told me in an email. (2)

“During a 2009 vacation in Florida, the man dined at an oyster bar, contracted a Vibrio vulnificus bacterial infection, and the next day, began suffering common food poisoning symptoms: nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. He was hospitalized, put into a medically induced coma, and had both legs amputated. The disease killed him.

“In March 2012, research by scientists at Auburn University confirmed that the killer bacterium Vibrio vulnificus is in tar balls – over 100 times more than in the surrounding water. That’s what the PMIC forbade VOO cleanup workers from warning children and their parents. Some tar balls along the Gulf coast are so large, they’ve been renamed “tar logs.”

Sources: Sun Herald, Health Boston.com, IBTimes, ‘Vampire of Macondo: Life, crimes and curses in south Louisiana on the Gulf of Mexico that powerful forces do not want you to know’