Your Fault: Flesh Eating Bacteria Cases Are On The Rise

It couldn’t possibly be something else besides the climate crisis, right?

Flesh-eating bacteria cases are rising. Climate change is to blame, say scientists

Just southwest of New Orleans, in a tranquil fishing village on the Louisiana bayou, Linard Lyons spent the morning on his 19-foot boat, preparing crab traps for his grandchildren just like he had done thousands of times before.

This time, he noticed a tiny scratch on his leg – a scratch that nearly cost him his life.

Lyons went about his day but woke up the following morning feeling “delusional.” Feverish and vomiting, he initially thought he had just contracted a stomach bug, but then discovered a series of blackening sores spreading across his left leg. (snip)

That small scratch on Lyons’ leg became the entryway for Vibrio vulnificus, also known as flesh-eating bacteria. Those black sores on his leg signified necrotizing fasciitis, which “affects the tissue under your skin,” according to the Cleveland Clinic.

These potentially deadly bacteria are naturally found and thrive in coastal waters during the warmer months, especially in brackish waters, where fresh water meets the sea, according to the US Centers for Disease and Control Prevention. Once largely confined to the Gulf Coast, cases have surged along the East Coast, with an 800% increase from 1988 to 2018, according to the CDC.

So, of course

The oceans are getting warmer and sea level is rising because of human-caused climate change, and scientists warn these factors are increasing the risk of Vibrio infections.

See? Your fault for driving a fossil fueled vehicle. It can’t possibly be norm for a typical Holocene warm period, right? Do we have a comparison to the spread of Vibrio vulnificus during previous warm periods?

The post Your Fault: Flesh Eating Bacteria Cases Are On The Rise appeared first on Pirate’s Cove.