Doctors had to cut open Amanda Edwards’ leg to stop the parasite from spreading further

Woman Gets Flesh-Eating Bacteria that ‘Spreads Really Quickly’ After Swimming at a Virginia Beach

A woman in Virginia is recovering after she contracted a flesh-eating bacteria that required emergency surgery.

Amanda Edwards swam for just ten minutes at Norfolk’s Ocean View Beach, but during that time she got a flesh-eating staph infection that quickly moved through her body, likely through an open cut, doctors said.

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Edwards said that she went to beach last week to get some relief from the hot weather in Virginia, and went for a brief swim. A day later, her leg already showed signs of the infection.

“I did not feel good,” she told WTKR. “I noticed this thing that came on my leg. I ignored it for a couple days, and then it just started getting bigger and bigger and bigger to the point where I couldn’t walk anymore.”

Edwards said that it “spreads really quickly,” and “was going up my leg.”

“I was just like, ‘Oh my goodness… my leg is gonna fall off,’ ” she said. “That’s the only thing I could keep thinking.”

She went to the hospital, where doctors worked to stop the infection.

“They had to cut me open, drain it out and stuff it with some gauze. I had to keep it covered for days,” she said.

RELATED VIDEO: 8-Year-Old Dies From Rare Flesh-Eating Bacteria: Doctors ‘Kept Cutting and Hoping’

Edwards later learned that there had been a swimming advisory out for Ocean View Beach — which has since been lifted — due to the bacteria levels in the water. She said that she did not see any signs about the advisory at the beach, and is now urging people to check online before they swim.

“Please check the news and make sure there is not an advisory out because there is not signs out there,” she said.

Edwards is on antibiotics for another two weeks, and said that she’s going to skip swimming for the rest of the summer.