A mother whose fingers and toes turned black after eating boiled fish for dinner tragically lost all four limbs.
Laura Barajas from California, USA, contracted a bacterial infection after cooking tilapia purchased from a local market in late July, reports The Mirror.
Last Thursday, the 40-year-old was forced to undergo life-saving amputation surgery after spending months in hospital with a life-threatening infection.
According to a friend, she cooked and ate the fish herself, and said she “almost lost her life” as a result of the incident, Mirror UK reports.
Anna Messina told News19: “It’s just been really heavy on all of us. It’s terrible. This could’ve happened to any of us. She almost lost her life. She was on a respirator,” reports The Mirror.
The mother, who has a six-year-old son, was placed in an induced coma after contracting sepsis.
Anna added: “Her fingers were black, her feet were black her bottom lip was black. She had complete sepsis and her kidneys were failing.”
According to the CDC, approximately 150-200 cases of infection are reported worldwide each year, and one in five people die from the infection. Immunocompromised people are more vulnerable to deadly bacteria.
CSF Infectious Disease expert Dr Natasha Spottiswoode warned: “The ways you can get infected with this bacteria are one-you can eat something that’s contaminated with it the other way is by having a cut or tattoo exposed to water in which this bug lives. People should take sensible precautions like if you have a cut avoid getting immersed in water until it’s well healed. If you are someone immunocompromised keeping an eye on these things and avoiding those high-risk activities and foods,” reports The Mirror.
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