Source: https://www.nwfdailynews.com/1.177419
Timestamp: 2019-04-24 11:02:53+00:00

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It�s not an epidemic. It�s not even a �health scare.� But Karen Chapman, director of the Okaloosa County Health Department, is right to acknowledge the presence of a potentially lethal bacterium in local waters and to let people know about it.
She has teamed up with relatives of two men who were infected by the bacterium to get the word out.
The bacterium is Vibrio vulnificus, which medical writers usually shorten to V. vulnificus. It occurs naturally in warm, salty sea water. A person can become infected by eating raw or undercooked seafood or by wading or swimming in contaminated water with an open wound, such as an unhealed scratch. Chills and fever may follow, along with skin lesions resembling blisters.
According to the Centers for Disease Control website, half of all V. vulnificus bloodstream infections are fatal.
Over the past 9� years, from January 2004 to June 2013, about 50 cases of V. vulnificus infection were reported in Okaloosa, Walton, Santa Rosa and Escambia counties, state health officials said in a news release.
So people definitely need to know.
They need to know that folks most vulnerable to V. vulnificus are those with weakened immune systems and those suffering liver disease.
They need to know they should avoid raw seafood and, if they have open wounds, stay out of the Gulf of Mexico and its estuaries.
In short, the more we know about V. vulnificus, the better. This should be obvious but it hasn�t always been. During a meningitis outbreak in 1996 and a swine flu outbreak in 2009, local officials balked at providing details. Holding back vital information only increased public anxiety.
Health authorities have been more open about the V. vulnificus situation. So far, so good. When facts are made available, rumors are kept at bay.

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