Angel Perez a Millville, NJ man is transferred to a long term care facility outlet after contracting a flesh eating bacteria while crab fishing. Faces losing all four limbs and worse.
A New Jersey father who contracted a flesh eating bacteria while crab fishing has been transferred to a long term care facility upon his infection spreading. To date the man’s condition, otherwise known as necrotizing fasciitis risks him losing all four limbs as his condition continues to deteriorate.
The father’s dilemma comes as Angel Perez, 60, of Millville was crabbing during 4th of July long weekend when he became infected with Vibrio necrotizing fasciitis, caused by bacteria found in warm waters along the coast that can enter the body through the smallest cut.
The outing led to Perez’s limbs turning black, with doctors saying if the father doesn’t respond to antibiotics soon, he may be facing partial – or complete – amputation of all four limbs.
Perez is currently in the intensive care unit at Cooper University Hospital, where he’s been placed on dialysis after his kidneys began to fail. Despite the seriousness of the man’s condition, Perez has expressed a willingness to put up a fight reported NJ.com.
How Angel Perez crab fishing NJ man may have been susceptible to flesh eating disease:
Vibrio necrotizing fasciitis (VNF) is caused by Vibrio bacteria, which are found in coastal waters and multiply during the warm months, typically between May and October.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), most people become infected with the bacteria after eating raw or undercooked shellfish or spending time in warm sea waters and infected via an open cut.
The infection is made more susceptible with those suffering a weakened immune system or other ailments. Of note, Perez is also grappling with Parkinson’s Disease.
A report via the dailymail describes the malignancy as a rare but serious bacterial infection that can destroy the skin, fat, and the tissue covering the muscles within a very short time if left untreated.
Noted the dailymail, ‘It can start from a relatively minor injury, such as a small cut or insect bite when bacteria enters a wound. The disease can be caused by several types of bacteria. Cases where people have caught it from the ocean have been infected with saltwater containing a Vibrio species.
As well as being found in warm sea waters, these organisms and are often present in raw oysters, shellfish, and other seafood.
It is an extremely uncommon cause of necrotizing fasciitis and more likely to affect people with compromised immune systems. The infection gets worse very quickly and can be fatal if it’s not recognised and treated early on.
The sooner treatment begins, the more likely the patient will recover from the infection and avoid serious complications, such as limb amputation.’
While flesh eating bacteria infection is rare, a study via HealthLink BC asserts the disease kills one in four people who contract it as the disease rapidly spreads.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 700 to 1,100 cases have occurred each year in the United States since 2010, though there are probably more cases that go unreported.
The National Institutes of Health says that while Vibrio bacteria ‘is one of the more infrequent causes of necrotizing fasciitis’, and often difficult to diagnose it carries the potential of a 25% mortality rate.
NJ father who contracted a flesh-eating bacteria is being transferred to a long-term care facility after infection spread https://t.co/GEmpYsXyoh
— Daily Mail US (@DailyMail) August 6, 2018
Angel Perez crab fishing NJ man condition continues to escalate as doctors must make decision soon:
As he had done so many times before, Perez went fishing for crabs off Matts Landing on the Maurice River, July 2.
But the next day, the lower half of his right leg was in severe pain and swelling, with blisters forming.
Two days later, he was diagnosed with the flesh eating bacteria, which was found to have entered the father’s bloodstream.
According to Perez’s daughter, Dilena Perez-Dilan, her father remains in critical condition. While bacteria is no longer in his blood, the infection has spread to all four limbs.
‘All his limbs are black. The infection has spread above his kneecap, and up the thigh and the left arm in particular is very bad,’ told the daughter via the dailymail.
Perez-Dilan said that her father was initially slated to be transferred to a hospice facility only for the family to decide to take him to a long-term care facility to ‘continue his fight’ as his condition continues to deteriorate.
The family said the decision was made after they were told that Perez couldn’t receive dialysis if he was in hospice.
‘We weren’t aware of that,‘ the daughter told via NJ Advance Media.
‘So we withdrew the choice of hospice and what we want to do is put him in a long-term care facility.’
‘So as long as he feels strong and courageous to continue, then we are going to make his wishes be what they are.’
Perez-Dilan said her father had been showing signs of improvement, but then new infection sites formed and have made the condition of already-blackened limbs even worse.
Noted a GoFundMe page set up on Saturday to help Perez defray mounting medical costs: ‘Through the strength of prayer and the love of his family, Angel Perez decided that he will continue to fight for his life’.
As of early Monday morning, EST, $3,448 of a $12,000 goal had been raised.
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