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| This photo provided by Patty Konietzky shows her husband's foot of what they thought was a bug bite on Sept. 22, 2013, in Ormond Beach, Fla. Patty and her husband, Henry "Butch" Konietzky, went crabbing in the Halifax River near Ormond Beach in September. Butch developed a sore which was later confirmed to be vibrio vulnificus. The bacteria spread quickly in his body and he died 60 hours later. |
ST. PETERSBURG,
Fla. (AP) -- Patty Konietzky thought the small purple lesion on her
husband's ankle was a spider bite. But when the lesion quickly spread
across his body like a constellation, she knew something wasn't right.
After a trip to the hospital and a day and a half later, Konietzky's 59-year-old husband was dead.
The
diagnosis: vibrio vulnificus (vih-BREE'-oh VUHL'-nihf-ih-kus), an
infection caused by a bacterium found in warm salt water. It's in the
same family of bacterium that causes cholera. So far this year, 31
people across Florida have been infected by the severe strain of vibrio,
and 10 have died.
"I thought the doctors
would treat him with antibiotics and we'd go home," said Konietzky, who
lives in Palm Coast, Fla. "Never in a million years it crossed my mind
that this is where I'd be today."
State health
officials say there are two ways to contract the disease: by eating
raw, tainted shellfish - usually oysters - or when an open wound comes
in contact with bacteria in warm seawater.
In
Mobile, Ala., this week health department officials said two men with
underlying health conditions were diagnosed with vibrio vulnificus in
recent weeks. One of the men died in September and the other is
hospitalized. Both men were tending to crab traps when they came into
contact with seawater.
While such occurrences
could potentially concern officials in states with hundreds of miles of
coastline and economies largely dependent on ocean-related tourism,
experts say the bacteria is nothing most people should worry about.
Vibrio bacteria exist normally in salt water and generally only affect
people with compromised immune systems, they say. Symptoms include
vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal pain. If the bacteria get into the
bloodstream, they provoke symptoms including fever and chills, decreased
blood pressure and blistering skin wounds.
But
there's no need to stop swimming in the Gulf of Mexico, says Diane
Holm, a spokeswoman for the state health department in Lee County, which
has had a handful of cases that included one fatality this year.
"This
is nothing abnormal," she said. "We don't believe there is any greater
risk for someone to swim in the Gulf today than there was yesterday or
10 years ago."
There have been reports this
year in Gulf states of other waterborne illnesses, but they are rare. In
fresh water, the Naegleria fowleri amoeba usually feeds on bacteria in
the sediment of warm lakes and rivers. If it gets high up in the nose,
it can get into the brain. Cases have been reported in Louisiana,
Arkansas and in Florida, including the August death of a boy in the
southwestern part of the state who contracted the amoeba while knee
boarding in a water-filled ditch.
Dr. James
Oliver, a professor of biology at the University of North Carolina in
Charlotte, has studied vibrio vulnificus for decades. He said that while
Florida has the most cases of vibrio infection due to the warm ocean
water that surrounds the state, the bacteria is found worldwide,
generally in estuaries and near the coast.
"It's normal flora in the water," he said. "It belongs there."
The
vast majority of people who are exposed to the bacteria don't get sick,
he said. A few people become ill but recover. Only a fraction of people
are violently ill and fewer still die; Oliver said many of those people
ingest tainted, raw shellfish.
Oliver and
Florida Department of Health officials say people shouldn't be afraid of
going into Florida's waters, but that those with suppressed immune
systems, such as people who have cancer, diabetes or cirrhosis of the
liver, should be aware of the potential hazards of vibrio vulnificus,
especially if they have an open wound.
Holm
said nine people died from vibrio vulnificus in Florida in 2012, and 13
in 2011, so this year's statistics aren't alarming. What's different,
she said, was that victims' families are speaking to the news media
about the danger.
Konietzky watched as her
husband Henry "Butch" Konietzky died on Sept. 23. She said she feels
it's her mission to let others know about the potential risks. Next
week, she and her husband's adult daughter are scheduled to appear on
"The Doctors" television program to discuss the disease.
"We
knew nothing about this bacteria," she said. Never mind that both she
and her husband grew up in Florida and have spent their lives fishing
and participating in other water activities.
The
couple had gone crabbing on the Halifax River near Ormond Beach on
Sept. 21, she said. Her husband first noticed the ankle lesion in the
middle of that night. He didn't wake his wife, but in the morning, told
her that it felt like his skin was burning near the lesion. Patty
Konietzky took a photo of it and hours later, when her husband said he
was in pain and the lesions had spread, they went to the emergency room.
Konietzky
said her husband didn't have any health problems or open wounds that
she knew of, and when doctors told her that he had an infection in his
bloodstream, she didn't think it was too serious. Within hours, her
husband's skin turned purple and it "looked like he had been beaten with
a baseball bat."
Nearly 62 hours after he was
in the water, Butch Konietzky died. His wife notes that she, too, was
in the same water - yet wasn't infected.
"To walk around in the water and doing the things we did, you didn't give it any thought," she said.
Konietzky
said her husband wouldn't want her - or anyone else - to stop fishing
or enjoying outdoor activities because of a fear of the bacteria.
Nonetheless, she wants people to be aware of the risk and is pushing her
local county commission to post signs warning folks about the bacteria.
"I'm
not going to be afraid of it," she said. "I have to personally put some
meaning on the loss of my husband. And speaking out is all I can do."
