Two months after making landfall in Texas, Hurricane Harvey has claimed another victim. This time, a man who helped repair flooded homes has died after contracting a flesh-eating bacteria.
The man, who has been identified as Josue Zurita, according to CNN affiliate KHOU, was helping repair several homes damaged by intense flooding from Harvey. Zurita went to the hospital on October 10 with a seriously infected wound on his upper left arm and was diagnosed with a rare flesh-eating bacterial infection known as necrotizing fasciitis, according to the Galveston County Health District. The 31-year-old man died last week after being diagnosed with the bacteria, Galveston County Health District announced Monday.
Zurita’s death follows closely on the heels of the death of Nancy Reed, a 77-year-old Houston-area woman who died in September after contracting the necrotizing fasciitis bacteria in Harvey floodwaters. J.R. Atkins, a former first responder, also contracted a flesh-eating bacterial infection but survived, according to KHOU. He had been kayaking through floodwaters to check on neighbors affected by the hurricane, according to a Facebook post in September.
In an obituary on the Galveston-based Carnes Brothers Funeral Home’s website, Zurita was called a “loving father and hard-working carpenter” who moved to the United States from Mexico to help his family and “remained to help with the rebuilding after hurricane Harvey.”
Necrotizing fasciitis is extremely rare, usually only popping up in about 1,100 cases per year in the United States. But given the conditions of areas that Hurricane Harvey destroyed, it’s much more likely to contract the bacteria while in the flood waters. “We’re surprised we saw three of them in the region, but given the exposure to all the construction and potential injuries that people would have … it shouldn’t be surprising. It’s well within what we would expect given those numbers,” said Dr. Philip Keiser, the Galveston County local health authority.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, several different types of bacteria can cause necrotizing fasciitis. An infection like this can spread quickly and kills off the body’s soft tissue, especially if it infects a wound that is not properly cared for, Keiser said. The infection also can become lethal within a very short amount of time. “What happens is, you get some kind of break in the skin, and in that area — between the skin and the muscle — it’s a fairly open space where the bacteria can grow,” Keiser said. “I have seen these things spread over hours. Even in one case, as I was examining a patient, I could see the red spread in the minutes I was examining him, and that’s the real danger to it,” Keiser said. “As it spreads, it’s going up the space between the muscle and skin, and as it does that, it kills all the nerves and the blood vessels can clot.”
Keiser says that this is preventable, however. People with wounds should make sure that they keep them covered with clean and dry bandages, especially while working in the flood waters. Never delay treating even a minor wound and seek proper medical attention if there is any redness or swelling around the area.
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The lesson learned out of this story is, DO NOT IGNORE minor cuts and scratches…ever. Always take the time immediately to clean disinfect, treat and protect minor wounds. you are useless to anyone dead, and a burden when you are injured and getting worse. Going and try to be Florence Nightingale, will end badly if you don’t stay on top of the little things.
Just search for colloidal silver + flesh eating bacteria. It’s the best thing out there for killing bacteria, viruses, microbes, etc. Known to stop flesh eating bacteria cold.
I can’t help but think when I am watching these people walking around in this toxic slew, what the he’ll are they thinking? Oil, sewage, chemicals and who knows what else. It’s a wonder not me people have died.
On a better side I was notified this morning that the Central Bank of Nigeria had authorised the release of my 10.5 million’s dollars on a prepaid visa cash card, so I will be living high on the hog from now on as soon as it comes in. They are still scamming.
Scary stuff..FEMA/DHS/CDC should have warned all responders the first day…criminal negligence
A guy I knew died about 5 years ago with this. He was working in concrete and got it from that.
All bacteria is a flesh eater if you do take care of it. It is what bacteria does.
Sgt.
Wow, not good. As soon as all the flood business started, I was wondering what kind of toxic shit people would come into contact with down there…God only knows.
my mama was soooo fat…….she got flesh-eating disease, and it took her 7 years to die.
MRSA on the skin is common. Had it and they give you sulfa, pre mold antibiotic. Being it hasn’t been used nearly as much since penicillin the bacteria hasn’t built up a resistance to it. It took a 30 day dose as the typical 10 day just didn’t do it. The physician at the NJ shore said that boils that he sees are 90% MRSA, its that common. Let the MRSA go internal and that can be deadly.
In the meantime we let people in from countries that have infections that (in the words of Richard Prior) scares the shit out of penicillin. People that think soap is a candy bar as they have never seen it. As Dice Man Clay says, “They smell like urine”.
Some of these cultures have literally used urine, for hygiene purposes, leading researchers to ask whether the camel is a vector for MRSA. Yes, really. The females are thought to excrete estrogen. So, it is used in beauty products. (Also, in beverages.)
Intuitively speaking, a flesh eating bacteria might be found, where there is decay. It seems to me, that Westerners are wading through that, or trying to restore their belongings, which have been awash in rotting carcases. This could be called a bad hygiene practice, now that we know the risks.
” used urine, for hygiene purposes”
Old timers (born in the teens / 20s) at work swore by urine for athletes feet. Only your own urine worked according to them. They would piss on their feet in the work shower.
Thats an interesting factoid..”Athletes Foot” is a fungus so I guess the out-of-bounds Ph of urine kicks it back…as for being “your own urine”,thats probably just a preference..
Soldiers used to do the same for trench foot.
The widespread use of antibacterial soap is making for stronger strains of bacteria.
Too bad they didn’t know about colloidal silver. http://modernsurvivalonline.com/guest-post-flesh-eating-bacteria-is-there-a-silver-bullet/
Used motor oil will cure athletes feet and a large number of stuff. none of those flooded structures should be repaired. They will just flood again. Move to high ground.
I was in Venice, and many building first stories had really low ceilings. The city was built on sinking swampland. As the land sank over the CENTURIES they added paver layers to floors, raising the floors above high tide.. It was never global warming, it was just a city built on swampland.
Al Gore, go suck on an egg.
Used motor oil is carcinogenic. Anyone foolish enough to intentionally put this stuff on their skin will have bigger problems than athlete’s foot – – –
One of the most effective treatments for psoriasis is regularly soaking in a tar bath. It’s an extract of tar that you add a few tablespoons of to bath water.