A Florida college student on spring break contracted a rare flesh-eating bacteria while spending time on a river, according to a report.

While swimming, Daniel Lively scraped his calf on a nail while on a dock of St. Johns River in March during his spring break, news station WFTV reported.

“I didn’t really think much of it. It was just, like, a small, black mark,” the University of Florida told the news station.

But within hours, he began to feel unwell. “The night was terrible. I just felt so sick, so out of sorts the whole time,” he said.

The next day, Lively returned home from his trip and collapsed from exhaustion.

“Getting home, I immediately went to sleep,” he told the news station.

His health continued to deteriorate as he started to limp and came down with a fever.

“He was vomiting. He thought he just had the flu,” his mom, Deanne Schulz, told WFTV.

He was diagnosed at the hospital with necrotizing fasciitis, a potentially fatal infection that has appeared with alarming frequency in the US in recent weeks.

The serious infection can be caused by different strains of bacteria and is known to be found in saltwater environments, according to the CDC.

Lively’s infection landed him for 11 days in the hospital, where he underwent three surgeries, according to WFTV.

“These infections can be pretty aggressive, so if you don’t get to them early and get this tissue out that is dying, this bacteria can continue to spread up the leg, and it can be very devastating for people,” his surgeon, Dr. Nathan DeAngelis, told the news station.

DeAngelis said the patient now is on the mend from the terrifying health scare.

“Thankfully for him, he was one of the lucky ones [who] didn’t require many surgeries,” DeAngelis said. “But I’ve seen people go through multiple surgeries on the same day even and lose limbs.”