A Florida man said he is lucky to be alive after a minor prick from a fishing hook led to a life-threatening, flesh-eating bacterial infection.

Fisherman Mike Walton caught his hand in a fishing hook in the Gulf of Mexico days ago, and didn't think much of it, he told Tampa Bay's WFTS. It's an injury he said he's had hundreds of times while fishing.

But, his hand began to swell – with large black blisters. Usual antibiotics weren't working. So, Walton drove himself to an emergency room, where doctors told him he needed surgery or he might lose his arm or worse.

“They said in a few hours, this would have gone up my arm into my chest, and I wouldn’t have been here. There was no saving me,” Walton told Florida's FOX 13.

Doctors considered amputating his arm but were able to remove the bacteria from skin tissue between his elbow and the palm of his hand, he said.

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"I got real lucky on this one," he told WFTS.

The flesh-eating infection, necrotizing fasciitis, is rare and can be deadly. Bacteria that causes it can enter the body through even small breaks in the skin and spreads quickly, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Walton, who works in construction, said this injury won't stop him from fishing in the future.

"I want to go right now," he said. "It ain't going to slow me down. It's one thing I enjoy."

Doctors told Walton the infection is contained, he said, but he'll likely need to be on antibiotics for another month and require additional weeks to heal.

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