A New Jersey man is fighting for his life after he contracted a flesh-eating bacteria while crabbing.
Angel Perez, 60, of Millville, New Jersey, is in critical condition in the intensive care unit at Cooper University Hospital after he contracted Vibrio necrotizing fasciitis, a flesh-eating bacteria, after crabbing in the water off Matts Landing, in Maurice River, NJ.com reports.
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“He is in critical condition. The infection has spread to his blood…his skin; you can see it spreading from his feet all the way above his kneecap. His forearms are black in color; they have blisters, cuts and sores,” Perez’s daughter, Dilena Perez-Dilan, said. “He’s not breathing perfectly, but he’s able to breathe on his own and we’re able to communicate with him now.”
Perez reportedly contracted the dangerous and potentially deadly bacteria after he went crabbing in the Maurice River. Upon returning home, his family reports that he began complaining of severe leg pain, and within a few hours, all of his limbs had ballooned and his skin was red, raw, and covered in blisters. He is now being treated at Cooper University Hospital, where doctors are waiting to see if his body responds to antibiotics. If the antibiotics do not work, they may have no other choice but to amputate all of Perez’s limbs.
“They are afraid if they don’t treat it or amputate it, it’s going to create more (infection),” Perez-Dilan said.
Perez is currently able to move his right arm and communicate with his family.
Assistant health officer at the Cumberland County Health Department Noah Hetzell said that the flesh-eating bacteria is not all that uncommon in warm, salty water and that “it exists pretty regularly” during the warmer months. The dangerous bacteria can reportedly enter the body through the tiniest cut or scratch, potentially causing a life-threatening medical emergency.
Water is not the only place where the bacteria can be found. In January, 8-year-old Liam Flanagan, a second-grader from Oregon, died after he contracted the bacteria. Flanagan had fallen off of his bike just a week before his death and the handlebars had sliced through his jeans and cut his thigh.
Despite having the wound cleaned by doctors and receiving stitches, Flanagan’s condition worsened in the coming days and he was eventually admitted into the hospital and diagnosed with necrotizing fasciitis. He underwent several surgeries to remove the infected areas of flesh, but passed away on Jan. 21.
The flesh-eating bacteria, which kills the soft tissues of the body, causes roughly 25 percent of those who contract it to die of infection. Symptoms of the bacteria include warm skin that may have ulcers, blisters, or black spots.
