A Dallas man died after flesh-eating bacteria from the Gulf of Mexico entered his body through a new tattoo on his leg, according to a report.

The 31-year-old man, whose identity has not been released, got the tattoo five days before swimming in the gulf, where vibrio vulnificus can be found.

Humans can contract the bacteria by eating undercooked shellfish or getting contaminated water in a cut or open wound.

Doctors said the man arrived at Parkland Memorial Hospital three days after he was exposed to the bacteria with extreme pain in his leg, KXAS-TV (NBC5) reported.

"Very quickly, over a couple of hours, it began to get more discolored, more bruised and had large blisters that began to form, which was certainly alarming to us as it was to him," said Dr. Nicholas Hendren, a dermatology resident at UT Southwestern Medical Center.

The man, who also had chronic liver disease, developed septic shock and died two months after he was admitted, according to an article co-authored by Hendren and published May 27 in BMJ Case Reports.

Vibrio vulnificus is more likely to thrive between May and October because of warmer water temperatures. People with a weakened immune system, such as those with liver disease or cancer, or people receiving immune-suppressing therapy are more likely to get an infection, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Tattoo artists generally advise against swimming in bodies of water or pools and hot tubs for the first few weeks after getting new ink.

Last summer, one Texas man had to have his leg amputated and a second was at risk of losing his after becoming infected with bacteria from bodies of water in Galveston and Port Aransas.

The Texas Department of State Health Services says there have been 27 reported cases of vibrio this year, 41 percent of which involved contact with water.