Mobile Saltwater Fishing Club

Here's the down low on Vibrio malfuncans, and other "flesh eating" bacteria. They are ALWAYS there in brackish water. Please don't stop enjoying the saltwater environment because there is some "new, deadly, flesh-eating bacteria" out there. 

With that said, exposing existing wounds to saltwater is a bad idea--as it always has been. If you are wounded in the saltwater, wash the wound out thoroughly with FRESH, CLEAN water IMMEDIATELY. If you have hydrogen peroxide, now would be an excellent time to use it. Dress it with any kind of antibiotic ointment that you have available, and cover it with a bandaid/gauze. 

This is the most important part to making sure that you don't become a statistic: OBSERVE your wound carefully! Watch for ANY redness, swelling, "heat" (localized fever), any drainage from the wound, significant pain, or throbbing (you can feel your heartbeat in it), you NEED to see a doctor IMMEDIATELY! Additionally, if you start feeling under the weather, have a fever, feel weak/tired or ANYTHING else that makes you say HMMM... CALL YOUR DOCTOR!

If you are infected with Vibrio, the absolute worst thing that you can do is wait to see a doctor. While Vibrio is treatable with antibiotics, it is a terribly resilient organism. Vibrio infections typically require at least 14 days of antibiotics to treat. THE ABSOLUTE WORST THING YOU CAN DO IS WAIT TO SEEK TREATMENT!!

I can guarantee you that all of those "statistics" in the aforementioned article are folks that waited to see if they would get better on their own. 

Disclaimer: While I have some medical knowledge, I can assure you that you are making the decision to seek treatment or not seek treatment completely of your own volition, and not based on any information that I have provided in the preceding text. You, and you alone are responsible for your own state of health and well being. If you choose to take, or disregard any information that I have presented in the preceding text, you do so completely at your own risk.