Tag: Coastal region

Florida officials report five deaths from ‘flesh-eating’ bacteria in Tampa Bay since January

Vibrio vulnificus infections are rare but can cause severe skin breakdown and ulcers

Five people are confirmed dead in the Tampa Bay area because of a flesh-eating bacterium known to lurk at beaches, Florida officials reported.

According to Florida Health, the vibrio vulnificus bacterium’s natural habitat is in warm, brackish seawater because it requires salt to live. The bacteria typically grow more quickly in warmer months.

Infections are rare, but health officials say those with open wounds, cuts or scrapes should stay out of the water.

Five people have died this year from reported bacterial infections, including two in Hilsborough County and one each in Pasco, Polk and Sarasota counties. There have been 26 reported cases of vibrio vulnificus infections in Florida since January, officials said.

Vibriosis causes an estimated 80,000 illnesses and 100 deaths in the United States every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (BSIP/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

In 2022, there were 74 total cases and 17 deaths. Those numbers were abnormally high that year because Hurricane Ian spilled sewage into the ocean, increasing bacteria levels.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), some Vibrio vulnificus infections lead to necrotizing fasciitis, a severe infection in which the flesh around an open wound dies. Necrotizing fasciitis can be caused by more than one type of bacteria.

People with open wounds, cuts or scratches can be exposed to the bacterium through direct contact with the mixture of fresh and seawater.

Vibrio vulnificus can cause an infection of the skin which may lead to skin breakdown and ulcers.

Five people in the Tampa Bay area have died from confirmed vibrio vulnificus infections since January, Florida health officials said. (DANIEL SLIM/AFP via Getty Images)

While anyone can get a Vibrio vulnificus infection, the infections can be more severe for people with weakened immune systems.

The bacterium can invade the bloodstream, causing a severe life-threatening illness with symptoms including fever, chills, decreased blood pressure and blistering skin lesions.

It has the potential to cause severe illness or death; the CDC says about one in five people die sometimes within a day or two of becoming ill.

Vibrio vulnificus can also cause disease in people who eat raw or undercooked oysters and shellfish.

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/us/florida-officials-report-5-deaths-flesh-eating-bacteria-tampa-bay-january

Hurricane Hilary floods could threaten lives – US

Hurricane Hilary is moving towards Mexico’s Baja California peninsula

Hurricane Hilary, heading to Mexico’s Pacific coast, has weakened but can still cause “life-threatening” flooding, US meteorologists warn.

With winds up to 100mph (175km/h), it is now a Category 2 storm, the National Hurricane Center says. Hillary is due to make landfall later on Saturday.

The NHC is already reporting heavy rain in parts of Mexico’s Baja California peninsula and the south-western US.

Hilary will weaken to a tropical storm before it reaches southern California.

It would be the first tropical storm to hit the US state in more than 80 years.

In its latest update at 21:00 GMT on Saturday, the NHC says the hurricane is now roughly 285 miles (459km) south-east of Baja California’s westernmost point of Punta Eugenia.

“Hilary appears to be weakening quickly,” John Cangialosi, a senior hurricane specialist at the NHC, is quoted as saying by the Associated Press news agency on Saturday.

“The eye is filling and the cloud tops in the eyewall and rainbands have been warming during the past several hours,” he adds.

Hilary was earlier a powerful Category 3 storm with winds up to 130mph.

Rainfall could reach 10in (25cm) in some areas of southern California and southern Nevada, the NHC says. “Dangerous to catastrophic flooding is expected,” it adds.

In San Diego, the National Weather Service (NWS) earlier issued a warning for the “high potential” of flash flooding. Nearly 26 million people in the south-western US were under flood watch.

On Friday, US President Joe Biden said that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) had “pre-positioned personnel and supplies in the region.

“I urge everyone in the path of the storm to take precautions and listen to the guidance from state and local officials,” he said.

Parts of Mexico are under a tropical storm watch and its government has placed 18,000 soldiers on standby to assist in rescue efforts.

As the storm bears down, Major League Baseball has rescheduled three games in southern California, while SpaceX has delayed the launch of a rocket from its base on the central California coast until at least Monday.

The National Park Service also closed Joshua Tree National Park and Mojave National Preserve, both in California, to prevent visitors from being stranded in the event of flooding.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-66499946

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