Teen was left fighting for his life after contracting flesh-eating bacteria from small scratch

A teenager was left fighting for his life after contracting flesh eating bacteria while swimming at a park in Florida.

Seventeen-year-old Joziah Thompson went swimming at a park in Niceville with his siblings and sustained a small scratch to his leg.

However, within just two days, the scratch became hot and very painful.

His mum Tirzah Thompson told Fox10: “Two days later, and his entire leg was red. He was moaning and hot to the touch and in a lot of pain.

“As soon as I looked at his leg, I said, ‘Oh, we need to go now.’”

At the hospital, doctors confirmed that Joziah had contracted Vibrio vulnificus – a type of bacteria that is naturally found in warm, brackish coastal waters, that is referred to as ‘flesh eating’ due to the damage it causes to skin and soft tissue.

Joziah had to undergo multiple surgeries to remove the infected flesh, and was left ‘fighting for his life’, according to his mum.

On a GoFundMe page, she wrote that the ‘medical nightmare’ had changed the family’s life overnight.

After going through multiple surgeries, Joziah ‘now faces a long road of recovery that includes wound care, a wound vac, ongoing monitoring, and additional medical procedures as doctors work to save his leg and protect his health’, according to a GoFundMe page set up by his mum.

“Along the way, he has also experienced serious complications, including concerns involving his heart, episodes of rapid heart rate, fluid retention, and the physical and emotional toll that comes with battling such an aggressive infection.”

Tirzah said she wants local leaders to increase local awareness of Vibrio vulnificus and the potential risk in public water.

The infection can be deadly (GoFundMe)

“That’s why I’m pushing for a system to be put in place to know the bacteria levels in local waters. I don’t want this to happen to any other children,” she told Fox10.

“My son is 5-foot-11 and 225 pounds. What if this was a 5-year-old who doesn’t have the strength to fight something off like this?”

According to the Centers for Disease Control, Vibrio vulnificus is an infection caused by the Vibrio bacteria.

The bacteria is found in higher numbers between May and October, when the weather is warmer and is typically found where rivers meet the ocean.

The CDC states that many people who contract Vibrio vulnificus ‘can get seriously ill and need intensive care or limb amputation’.

About one in five people who get Vibrio vulnificus will die, sometimes within just a day or two of becoming ill.