Updated 01:16 | Published at 01:00
Mother of toddler Laura Barajas, 40, didn’t cook the fish long enough.
A month later she was in a coma in hospital with a severe bacterial infection.
The doctors have now been forced to amputate her legs and arms.
Last summer, Laura Barajas bought a fish of the tilapia tilapia species. It is grown on a large scale as food fish in Asia and the USA in particular. Unusual for Swedish fishmongers. in the local market in San Jose, California.
She went home, ate it and became seriously ill the very next day.
A little over a month later, she was put into a coma and on a ventilator, writes USA Today.
– She almost died. Her fingers were black, her feet were black, her lower lip was black. She had blood poisoning and her kidneys stopped working, says friend Anna Messina to the local television station Kron 4.
Last week, doctors were forced to amputate both of Laura Baraja’s arms and legs. The friend has now started a fundraiser to help her husband and six-year-old son with the growing medical bills.
“What happened to them can happen to all of us,” writes Anna Messina.
Warning from authority
Laura Barajas became infected with the bacteria vibrio vulnificus after not cooking the fish long enough.
US CDC published a few weeks ago a warning for different kinds of vibrio bacteria and urged doctors to pay attention to the symptoms. They vary depending on how you become infected, but include fever, painful blisters and diarrhea, writes USA Today.
According to the CDC, between 150 and 200 cases of the disease are reported each year in the United States.
In the warning, the authority writes that vibrio bacteria increase in warm seawater. This summer’s heat waves in the United States led to an increase in cases of the disease in Connecticut, New York and North Carolina. At least five people have died, writes CNN.
Then you get infected
When it comes to vibrio vulnificus in particular, the most common route of infection is bathing with open wounds on the body in water where the bacteria thrives, according to the CDC. Minor scrapes and fresh piercings or tattoos are enough, according to CNN.
In around ten percent of cases, the disease is spread via fish and shellfish.
A third way to become infected is when water is driven inland during floods. In Florida, for example, eleven deaths were reported after Hurricane Ian last year, writes CNN.
According to the Public Health Authority vibro vulnificus belongs to the same genus as the cholera bacterium and can be found in warm coastal waters worldwide. It is not contagious between people and usually affects people with weakened immune systems and liver diseases.
The incubation period is approximately twelve hours in case of wound infection and up to three days if you are infected by fish and shellfish.
That way you can protect yourself
The American CDC gives the following advice to private individuals to protect themselves against the bacteria:
check Do not bathe in salt or brackish water if you have an open wound.
check Wash wounds with soap and water if they have come into contact with salt water, brackish water or raw fish and shellfish.
check Do not eat oysters and other shellfish uncooked. And always wash your hands with soap and water after handling raw shellfish.