Cason Yeager Dies From Flesh-Eating Bacteria After Swimming In Florida Waters, And Health Officials Won’t Issue A Warning

Cason Yeager, a healthy 26-year-old man, died on June 16, after contracting the deadly Vibrio Vulnificus bacteria, after he went for a dip near Pine Island Beach in Hernando County, Florida, but the Florida Health Department has yet to issue a warning to potential swimmers, Yeager’s mother says.

Though Cason was diagnosed with an auto-immune disorder 10-years-ago, his mother, Karen Yeager, says he had since made a full recovery, and was as healthy as any other typical 26-year-old man. Now, she’s fighting for health officials to warn other swimmers about the deadly bacteria, because one doesn’t need to be sick to contract it — Vibrio Vulnificus attacks healthy people as well.

“This has been a nightmare for me. Let me tell you, and nobody should have to go through this,” Ms. Yeager said, “I’m not telling anyone don’t go into the water just do your due diligence and make sure that you’re not going to harm yourself.”

To top off the nightmare that Ms. Yeager has been going through since Cason became sick, and ultimately died, Cason’s doctor at The Villages Regional Hospital didn’t bother to sign his death certificate until June 23, even though he died on June 16.

Other swimmers at Pine Island Beach couldn’t believe the health department’s reluctance to notify the public about the bacteria.

“I think it’s sad and I think it’s very irresponsible,” Harold Young said.

“It should happen immediately they should tell the people what’s going on. They have the right to know,” another Pine Island swimmer, Janice Cobb, said.

Vibrio Vulnificus is usually contracted through eating raw or undercooked shellfish. When the bacteria is contracted this way, it typically has a mortality rate of 50 percent. What more than likely happend to Cason Yeager, however, is that he was infected by it through an open wound that came in contact with the warm seawater, where the bacteria thrives the most. When contracted in this manner, the infection has a mortality rate of 25 percent.

Doctors are quick to point out that contraction of the infection is rare, but that general symptoms to look out for are vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal pain. As was the case with Cason Yeager, those infected by Vibrio Vulnificus — which is in the same family as the bacteria that causes cholera — usually die within 48 hours of coming in contact with it.

For Cason Yeager’s mother to have to deal with the fact that her son has died is a nightmare, but to then have to come to terms with the idea that the same deadly bacteria may kill others because health officials haven’t yet notified the public, is a concept more horrifying than the bacteria itself.

[Image Credit: KTLA]