Over a week ago, it was a fun family outing at the beach for a Houston resident – until flesh-eating bacteria ruined the vacation and had him fighting for his life at the hospital.
The right leg of Brian Parrott, a 50-year-old father of three from Jacinto City, had to be amputated due to the bacterial invasion, according to his family. His mother, Donna Dailey, recalled that the victim did not know how he got the infection.
Local news outlet KHOU reported that Parrott swam with his son and grandchildren for at least two hours on June 12 at a Galveston beach without any problem, until he started to vomit and noticed sores on his leg a couple of days after.
Harris County health authorities are yet to confirm if Parrott obtained a Vibrio vulnificus infection, which is commonly known to ravage flesh due to the way the toxins kill skin cells they encounter via cuts and scrapes. Even the main infection site is yet to be determined.
The victim is a diabetic, which weakens his immunity and made him prone to the bacteria lurking in saltwater and brackish water. He also didn’t know that those with an open wound or cut should avoid bathing in saltwater or wear appropriate waterproof bandage – and the fact that warm weather ups the risk of infection.
As of Tuesday, physicians remained uncertain whether more of Parrott’s leg has to be removed or whether he would actually survive.
“He was saying he didn’t know if he could take it anymore,” shared Dailey in a phone interview. “Today he seems better.”
Parrott’s case is the second this year that has been reported to the county. In New Orleans early this month, a woman sought medical attention after she contracted flesh-eating bacteria while surf fishing in the Gulf of Mexico on May 12. She suffered a wound on her foot and saw her wound still not healing properly after antibiotic use and a week of treatment.
While rarely fatal, Vibrio causes around 80,000 infections and 100 deaths every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Once ingested, it can lead to watery diarrhea, abdominal cramping, nausea and vomiting, chills, and fever. The disease is most commonly spread through consumption of undercooked shellfish.
The symptoms could manifest within a day to around three days. A serious infection is quite rare and usually occurs in immunocompromised individuals.
Diana Martinez of the Harris County Public Health, saying an investigation on the case is underway, argued that doctors never use the words “flesh eating” and that she first heard the term back in the mid-1990s with a sensational news report in Britain.
The friends and loved ones of Parrott, who has had a difficult year as he only recently landed a new job, have set up a GoFundMe page for his financial needs.
