Woman says her father contracted vibrio while cleaning crabs

NORTH CAROLINA (WWAY) — After one North Carolina man died from eating oysters at a Wilmington restaurant, a second person in the state has reportedly fallen ill after coming into contact with vibrio, a potentially deadly bacteria.

One woman reached out to share the story of her father.

She says her 84-year-old father has been in the ICU in New Bern for weeks after coming into contact with vibrio while cleaning crabs. She says she and her father were cleaning crabs when he got scraped.

In just 24 hours, the woman said he had to have emergency surgery to save his arm.

“Signs of infection would be really bad pain to the site,” Novant Health’s Dr. Ryan Jordanhazy said. “Any sort of drainage. Redness. Streaking up and down the body in a sort of rapid progression. We’re talking like a day or two.”

Jordanhazy says the bacteria can spread quickly through the body.

Jordanhazy, who is not treating this patient, says there are two ways of coming into contact with vibrio.

“Through the GI system if you eat some sort of under cooked or raw shellfish,” he said.

He compares the first type to having symptoms food poisoning.

“Second way would be if it causes a skin infection called cellulitis,” he said.

Jordanhazy says the bacteria can get in through any open wounds while you are handling raw shellfish or swimming in brackish waters.

He says these life-threatening cases are not common and treating it quickly can be lifesaving.

“The treatment is good,” he said. “The treatment is antibiotics and it cures it, but a lot of times, people end up a little too late. Or they’re elderly, or have compromised immune systems.”

Jordanhazy says you should always be careful if you are around raw shellfish, especially if you are eating them.