Woman dies from 'flesh-eating' bacteria after eating oysters

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A Texas woman died from a "flesh-eating" bacteria after eating raw oysters during a visit on the Louisiana coast.

That's according to Vicki Bergquist, who told Lafeyette's KLFY that her wife and a friend shucked and ate about two-dozen oysters before a rash appeared on her legs about 36 hours later.

They had purchased the raw oysters at a market in the New Orleans suburb of Westwego. Bergquist thought her wife, Jeanette LeBlanc, had an allergy.



LeBlanc also experienced a "respiratory distress" that worsened in the oncoming hours. Doctors later diagnosed LeBlanc with vibriosis, the station reported.

Vibrio, a type of bacteria, can infect people who eat raw or undercooked shellfish, especially oysters, according tot he Centers for Disease Control. It can also infect the skin when brackish water — a mix of river water and sea water — hits an open wound.

LeBlanc encountered both on the trip, KLFY reported. After a 21-day battle with the disease, LeBlanc died on Oct. 15.

Bergquist, who called her wife "bigger than life," now plans to to raise awareness about the disease.

“It’s a flesh-eating bacteria," Bergquist told the station. "She had severe wounds on her legs from that bacteria.'

Microbiolgist Gabrielle Barbarite, a vibrio researcher trained at Florida Atlantic University, told Health that vibrio is not precisely a flesh-eating bacteria as it doesn't degrade skin on contact.



"You have to have a pre-existing cut—or you have to eat raw, contaminated seafood or chug a whole lot of contaminated water—for it to get into your bloodstream," Barbarite said.

About 100 people die out of an estimated 80,000 vibriosis cases in the United States each year, per the CDC. Infections most often occur when waters remain warmer, from May to October.

Read the full report at KLFY.

Follow Josh Hafner on Twitter: @joshhafner