TWO people died from a fatal bacterial infection contracted from contaminated shellfish. This prompts health professionals to issue an urgent warning.
Pensacola and Fort Lauderdale’s restaurant customer both became seriously ill and died in the past month.
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It all began at the Rustic inn near Dania Beach. A seafood restaurant known for its garlic-crabs, it was for both of them. AP News.
Vibrio vulnificus bacteria, which is a particular type of bacteria that can be found in shellfish, caused the illness that both customers suffered.
Dr. Ade Bamgboye of HCA Florida Northwest Hospital is an internal medicine specialist who says that only shellfish harvested from certain water sources can transmit the bacteria. CBS News Reports.
“Vibrio vulnificus is seen in shellfish harvested from salty or brackish water,”He explained.
Bamgboye says that most people will survive the infection if they don’t have any underlying conditions.
“Things like cancer with chemotherapy treatment, HIV, diabetes,” he detailed.
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention about 80,000 people are infected with the bacteria annually and possibly 100 of them die from complications.
According to the CDC, the bacteria can also be difficult to detect.
Vibrio vibrio vulnificus is said to make oysters taste, look, and smell the same as those with it.
Manager Gary Oreal placed warning signs at Rustic Inn for customers who eat raw shellfish at own risk.
“We passed with flying colors and we were allowed to continue to sell oysters,” he informed The South Florida SunSentinal.
“If there was a problem with the oyster bed we would know it because others would have gotten sick.”
Oreal believes that this kind of thing is rare in his own experience.
“Over the course of 60 years, we have served a couple billion oysters, and we never had anyone get sick like this guy did,”Oreal noted.
It is important to remember that seafood lovers shouldn’t eat raw shellfish.
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