‘Very close to losing him:’ Florida man battles flesh-eating bacteria

ORLANDO, Fla. – A man is in the hospital battling a rare flesh-eating bacterial infection in Central Florida.

The man’s wife, Karen Lipko, posted online about what her family is going through.

On a Go Fund Me page, she said her husband has had nine surgeries so far and has a long journey ahead with rehab.

“I came very close to losing him,” Lipko said. “He is still in the hospital with another surgery next week. He and I are the only family each of us have.”

Lipko said she is not sure how her husband ended up like this, but it happened two months ago after Hurricane Milton.

Florida health officials warned this hurricane season that bacteria that lives in water can enter the skin through open wounds and cause the skin to break down, which is why it’s commonly referred to as “flesh-eating bacteria.”

Vibrio vulnificus is a rare cause of disease, according to the Florida Department of Health.

News 6 spoke with Dr. Jay Ladde, a senior associate program director at Orlando Health, about the infection — and treatment.

“It’s probably one in 500,000 when you look at the data, but it still exists,” said Ladde, who is not involved in Lipko’s case. “We definitely do see this, and it’s a very serious disease.”

Data from the Florida Department of Health shows there have been 83 reported cases and 17 deaths from the infection so far in Florida this year. Many have been documented in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties after hurricanes Milton and Helene.

“We have a ton of water around here, so someone’s walking around in water, going fishing and suffers a minor scrape on a wood dock — something that shouldn’t get infected — and a day later they’re all of a sudden very sick with this bad infection,” Ladde said.

Common signs of a Vibrio wound infection include pain and swelling, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

Ladde said it often starts out very subtle and can progress quickly.

“That’s what makes this tough,” Ladde said. “It’s going to start from something that you wouldn’t think anything about, usually numbness or pain. So, if you have this pain that seems very out of proportion, ‘I barely knocked my leg on a bicycle peg,’ or, ‘I was in the water, hit my leg, and all of a sudden it’s hurting very badly, it’s firm.’ A lot of the time people will say they can’t feel that part of the skin.”

The bacteria can cause severe and life-threatening infections. Ladde said most patients need aggressive antibiotics and early surgical intervention.

“In healthy people, the mortality, meaning the death rate, is somewhere around 20% nationally. So, that’s a very high death rate,” Ladde said. “And then you have the concern of losing a limb.”

Awareness is critical because of how severe cases can be.

“If you do suffer a minor scrape, especially if it’s on coral or something, make sure you have proper wound care. I do tell people with those scrapes don’t use peroxide or rubbing alcohol,” said Ladde. “It causes tissue destruction, so just regular soap and water. If there’s any concern and you start developing a fever and its bad pain, you need to seek immediate attention.

Ladde encouraged people to go to the emergency room if they are experiencing symptoms.

“This is such a subtle thing and then it becomes really drastically dangerous to you,” he said. “It can happen to anyone.”