AUSTIN -- A Texas woman is recovering after a bout with a flesh-eating bacteria she caught at a Galveston beach.

Michelle O'Brien, a 30-year-old Austin resident, was infected with Vibrio Vulnificus -- a flesh-eating bacteria found in warm bodies of salt water or contaminated raw seafood -- after cutting her foot on an oyster bed Saturday on Galveston Island, ABC13.com reports.

The bacterium can cause fever and chills, decreased blood pressure, skin lesions and death, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC says 50 percent of infections are fatal.

It also attacks the immune system and can destroy areas near an open wound.

Almost a dozen people have died from illnesses caused by the bacterium, WWLP reports.

O'Brien spent five days at Memorial Hermann Hospital, most of which she spent in the ICU, according to KFOR. She was given antibiotics to treat the illness.

"The only reason I still have my foot attached to me is because I got those early antibiotics in," O'Brien told KFOR.

Luis Ostrosky, medical director of infection control at Memorial Hermann told KTRK, "This is a very severe and life-threatening infection that rapidly progresses."

O'Brien was discharged Thursday.

jfechter@express-news.net

Twitter: @JFreports