US woman contracts flesh-eating virus during day at the beach

A woman in the US has shared a warning for beach-goers after she contracted a flesh-eating bacteria while swimming at a Florida beach.

Leann Thibodeau went for a swim at Manasota Beach on Saturday June 29, with a small scratch on her foot that had scabbed over.

Three days later, she noticed her foot had become red and swollen, signalling an infection. By the fourth day, it was so swollen she could barely walk on it.

On July 4, Thibodeau rushed to a local hospital, where she was told by doctors she was infected with group A Streptococcus – the leading cause for necrotizing fasciitis, commonly known as flesh-eating disease.

Thibodeau went in for surgery on Friday, during which doctors cleaned the bacteria out from her foot. She was then given antibiotics for the rest of the infection.

Posting her ordeal to Facebook, Thibodeau said in the early days of her infection she had joked about having a flesh-eating virus. She also warned others to avoid the beaches around Florida, claiming they should be closed.

“I’m warning you to all my friends. From Sarasota to Port Charlotte. There is a high advisory in the water for bacteria,” Thibodeau wrote.

“All the beaches should be closed right now. So, so sad that my favourite place is now infected not only with red tide but also flesh-eating bacteria.”

Necrotizing fasciitis is a rare bacterial infection that quickly kills surrounding tissue, with the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimating between 700 and 1200 cases occur in the US each year.