2nd CT person dies from ‘flesh-eating’ bacterial infection

A second person has died from an aggressive and extremely rare bacterial infection that prompted a statewide public health alert earlier this summer.

Vibrio vulnificus can cause life-threatening infections that require extensive care or limb amputations. Infections spread through raw or undercooked oysters and seafood or saltwater.

There have been three reported cases of these infections in Connecticut this year. The state announced the first death from the infection on July 28.

Now, another person from that group has died.

“This death occurred in late July,” said Christopher Boyle, DPH spokesperson, in an email Tuesday.

Further details were not immediately available. All three patients were between 60 and 80 years old, state officials said.

Of the three people infected, one reported eating oysters at an out-of-state restaurant. Two others said they had exposure to saltwater in Long Island Sound, which they entered with open wounds.

Some vibrio vulnificus infections can kill the flesh around the open wound. That’s led to the “flesh-eating bacteria” moniker for this type of infection, even though “necrotizing fasciitis can be caused by more than one type of bacteria,” the CDC says.

About one in five people with vibrio vulnificus infections die, the CDC says.

While mortality rates for this illness are very high, the infections are exceedingly rare.

Five cases were reported in 2020 in Connecticut. There were no reported cases in 2021 and 2022, according to the DPH.

To avoid getting sick, don’t eat raw or undercooked seafood and avoid going in saltwater if you have a wound, the CDC says.