TARPON SPRINGS, Fla. — The latest victim of the nasty flesh-eating bacteria is someone who knows the waters of the Bay Area better than most.

George Billiris contracted flesh-eating bacteria Vibrio Vulnificus

Billiris said he contracted it after fishing near Anclote power plant

He said he plans to make more people aware of the dangers there

George Billiris’ family helped develop the sponge-diving industry in Tarpon Springs. He said since he was a child he helped his family with their tour boat company, and he now runs it.

But the tours had to slow down after Billiris said he went out fishing and contracted the flesh-eating bacteria Vibrio Vulnificus .

“My whole calf, that left side, is just excruciating pain,” Billiris said.

Man from prominent #TarponSprings family is the latest to contract #flesheatingbacteria. He says it happened in the waters near the Anclote Power Plant. Hear his story tonight about the bacteria seeping into his leg through a scabbed over cut. @BN9 #bn9pinellas pic.twitter.com/M4DnOEJceY — Saundra WeathersOnTV (@SaundraONTV) July 31, 2019

From his hospital bed, Billiris showed off his bright-red swollen leg and foot, and explained how he contracted the flesh-eating bacteria.

“I had a couple scabs that had been there for a little while but apparently it must have seeped in through there,” he said.

The next day Billiris said he took two different groups out on their family’s Tarpon Springs tour boat, the Saint Nicholas VII, when the severe pain he had was followed by a fever and chills.

“The pain was getting much worse so we immediately rushed to the hospital, which was fortunate because apparently we caught it in time,” he said. “We didn’t let it progress too much further because had we done so, the mortality rate increases if you let it get too far ahead. You run into a 50 percent mortality rate.”

Billiris said he was fishing near the Anclote Power plant near the northern canal. It’s somewhere he says he’d gone fishing so many times before. But once he gets better he said he plans to make more people aware of the dangers there.

“I’m going to probably go over there and talk to some of the officials around there,” he said. “The maintenance guys around there so I can suggest they put some signs up, or maybe but my own signs up there. Just some kind of a warning for people to be aware of this.”

Billiris plans to go back to work and back on his family’s tour boat once he’s cleared and released from the hospital.