Man infected with flesh-eating bacteria off Crystal Beach

Well, this is unpleasant: A Nacogdoches man remains in critical condition after being infected with a flesh-eating bacteria during a swim off the Galveston County coast. The man, 58-year-old Steve Gilpatrick, is diabetic and had an ulcer on his leg when he went swimming during a fishing trip at Crystal Beach on July 8. Three days later, his leg became infected and he began running a high fever; it turns out he had been infected by Vibrio vulnificus, a bacteria that can cause vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal pain in healthy people and far more severe problems — septic shock and blistering skin — in people with health problems. According to the CDC, people whose bloodstreams are infected by Vibrio vulnificus, like Gilpatrick, have a 50 percent mortality rate from the infection.

Now, Gilpatrick is suffering from multiple organ failure and has undergone three surgeries at the UT Medical Branch in Galveston. Doctors are trying to save his leg, and his wife, Linda Gilpatrick, still seems shocked — understandably — about the whole thing. "I've heard of flesh-eating bacteria, but it always seemed so far away," Linda Gilpatrick told the AP. "It's not. It's here."

The CDC reports that most cases of Vibrio vulnificus are contracted along the Texas coast, but infections are rare: There were 54 cases reported in Texas last year, at least 16 of which were caused by water contact. People can be infected by eating contaminated seafood, especially raw shellfish — and though everyone who eats seafood should be aware of the bacteria, swimmers don't have to worry in general. "I wouldn't alter [swimming] activities based on this, if you're otherwise healthy," Dr. Robert Atmar, an infectious disease specialist at Baylor College of Medicine, said. "People who have chronic illnesses like diabetes or steroids or cancer or chronic liver disease, if they have open wounds or sores, shouldn’t go wading in the Gulf during the summer."