{"id":708913,"date":"2026-06-17T05:28:24","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T05:28:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/708913\/"},"modified":"2026-06-17T05:28:24","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T05:28:24","slug":"florida-teen-fighting-for-his-life-from-flesh-eating-bacteria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/708913\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida teen ‘fighting for his life’ from flesh-eating bacteria"},"content":{"rendered":"

What started as a simple scrape has turned into a medical nightmare for one Florida teen.<\/p>\n

After swimming at a park in Niceville, Florida, 17-year-old Joziah Thompson got what was initially a minor scratch on his leg.<\/p>\n

Only two days later, he was rushed to the hospital with a red, swollen leg, where doctors confirmed he was fighting infection from a potentially deadly flesh-eating bacteria.<\/p>\n

\"JoziahFlorida teen Joziah Thompson is fighting for his life after contracting a rare but potentially deadly flesh-eating bacteria. GoFundMe<\/p>\n

The teen underwent several emergency surgeries to remove damaged tissue before being sent home a week later.<\/p>\n

Doctors confirmed Joziah contracted, a flesh-eating bacterium that naturally occurs in warm coastal waters, typically where freshwater meets saltwater.<\/p>\n

The rare but deadly infection<\/a> can cause severe damage to skin and soft tissue if it comes into contact with an open wound.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just been a whirlwind trying to make sure he\u2019s OK, and it\u2019s been very taxing for sure,\u201d Joziah\u2019s mother, Tirzah Thompson, told Fox10<\/a>. \u201cWhat child do you know that wants to spend their summer fighting for their life?\u201d<\/p>\n

While the teen is recovering, he\u2019s currently on an aggressive antibiotics course and still faces the risk of heart issues and infection, as well as possible amputation.<\/p>\n

While rare \u2014 an estimated 100 to 200 cases happen in the US each year \u2014 Vibrio vulnificus is lethal, with a more than 50% mortality rate<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"AVibrio vulnificus is a bacteria that naturally occurs in warm, coastal waters and can cause serious damage to the skin. GoFundMe<\/p>\n

The rod-shaped bacterium can also be contracted by eating raw or undercooked shellfish<\/a>, particularly oysters.<\/p>\n

Oftentimes, it causes mild illness with symptoms like watery diarrhea, cramps, nausea, vomiting, fever and chills.<\/p>\n

But the bacteria can become life-threatening if it gets in the bloodstream, causing skin lesions that blister and dangerously low blood pressure.<\/p>\n

If a wound has been infected, the area will show signs of redness, pain, swelling, warmth and leaking fluids.<\/p>\n

Several dozen cases were reported last summer<\/a> across multiple states, including Florida, North Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana.<\/p>\n

The Florida Department of Health reported a total of 33 cases last year, with five deaths.<\/p>\n

Evidence of the flesh-eating bacteria was also found this past spring in the waters of Long Island, according to researchers at Stony Brook University.<\/p>\n

A GoFundMe was set up to help with Joziah\u2019s medical bills, while his mother pushes for more awareness around the deadly illness and potential risks in public waters.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m pushing for a system to be put in place to know the bacteria levels in local waters,\u201d Thompson said. \u201cI don\u2019t want this to happen to any other children.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What started as a simple scrape has turned into a medical nightmare for one Florida teen. After swimming…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":708914,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[12990,10308,28327,26522,2808,188499,97,55447,5599],"class_list":["post-708913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-bacteria","tag-blood","tag-contaminated-water","tag-deaths","tag-florida","tag-food-poisoning","tag-health","tag-infections","tag-public-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/708913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=708913"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/708913\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/708914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=708913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=708913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=708913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}