By Alex Ward - The Daily Mail




A man has died just 28 hours after he contracted a flesh-eating bacterial infection from seawater.

Henry Konietzky, 59, died after he was exposed to the deadly bacteria while wading in the Halifax River in Florida on Saturday.

It is just the latest death connected to the Vibrio vulnificus bacteria - which normally lives in warm seawater - in the Volusia and Flager counties. Nine people have died in the area from the bacteria this year.

Mr Konietzky, a married father, had accidentally stepped on some ants before getting into the water and sustained ant bites, which could have created an open wound for the bacteria to get inside.

He then waded into the water, knee-deep, to set crab traps.

The next morning the man from Palm Coast woke to find what looked like an insect bite on his leg.

Debbie Stack, the man’s sister-in-law, told Click Orlando: ‘They did not take [the bite] seriously until it started festering and quickly. Then he started feeling ill.’

The keen fisherman was rushed to hospital on Sunday but he was dead by Monday.

Ms Stack said: ‘They tried multiple antibiotics but nothing was touching it. Nothing even phased it.’

His daughter Sheila added: 'We are still in shock. What's really devastating is that he fished his whole life. For something like this to take him away from us so quickly, without warning, is really scary.'

Health officials said that there had been 26 cases of the bacteria, including nine deaths, in the state of Florida just this year.

Ms Stack said the family were considering making signs to put near the river to warn people of the dangers.

Vibrio vulnificus is a naturally-occurring bacteria in warm sea water that belongs to the same family of bacterium as cholera and requires salt to live.

According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) the bacteria can also be contracted from eating contaminated raw seafood.

When open wounds on otherwise healthy people are exposed to warm seawater containing the bacteria, the skin can become infected, leading to a breakdown and ulceration of the skin.

Immunocompromised people face a deadlier risk: they have a higher possibility of the bacteria invading the bloodstream, leading to potentially fatal complications.

If the bacteria is ingested, healthy people can experience vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal pain.

For people with weaker immune systems, consuming Vibrio vulnificus can infect the bloodstream, leading to 'a severe and life-threatening illness characterized by fever and chills, decreased blood pressure (septic shock), and blistering skin lesions,' according to the CDC.

Bloodstream infections by the bacteria are fatal about 50 per cent of the time.

Patients are treated with antibiotics, and according to the CDC, infected wounds must be treated aggressively - sometimes meaning amputation of an infected limb.