Health officials in Massachusetts have warned about a potentially deadly type of flesh-eating bacteria in the state’s coastal waters after a person was infected.
The state’s Department of Public Health on Aug. 13 said that “an extremely rare case” of Vibrio vulnificus was reported in the state, adding that the individual who was infected was likely exposed to the bacteria while at the beach in Buzzards Bay, near Cape Cod.
“Vibrio bacteria normally live in warm, salt, or brackish waters along the Atlantic coast,” Public Health Commissioner Robbie Goldstein said in a statement released on the health department’s website. Brackish water usually occurs when freshwater, such as from a river, meets with ocean water….