Health officials in Incheon are on alert after two vibrio sepsis patients died there while receiving treatment. They contracted the disease after eating raw fish.
This year, 10 cases of vibrio sepsis have been reported throughout the country, most of which occurred in South Jeolla Province.
According to the Incheon Metropolitan Government, a patient from Ganghwa-gun, surnamed Hwang, 53, died Aug. 14 at a hospital where he had been treated for severe abdominal pains and diarrhea.
Hwang was the second vibrio sepsis patient in Incheon to die, following another fatality in Bupyeong-gu.
The bacterium Vibrio vulnificus is commonly contracted through the consumption of raw or undercooked seafood. The resulting sepsis can cause abdominal pain and vomiting, among other symptoms.
It is more dangerous for people already suffering from liver diseases such as hypertension and diabetes. More than 80 percent of vibrio sepsis patients die.
An Incheon official said Hwang had been suffering from a chronic disease.
"People with diabetes or liver disorders should be careful of eating seafood, and those who have open cuts should stay out of the sea as the bacteria can also be waterborne," the official said.
This year, 10 cases of vibrio sepsis have been reported throughout the country, most of which occurred in South Jeolla Province.
According to the Incheon Metropolitan Government, a patient from Ganghwa-gun, surnamed Hwang, 53, died Aug. 14 at a hospital where he had been treated for severe abdominal pains and diarrhea.
Hwang was the second vibrio sepsis patient in Incheon to die, following another fatality in Bupyeong-gu.
The bacterium Vibrio vulnificus is commonly contracted through the consumption of raw or undercooked seafood. The resulting sepsis can cause abdominal pain and vomiting, among other symptoms.
It is more dangerous for people already suffering from liver diseases such as hypertension and diabetes. More than 80 percent of vibrio sepsis patients die.
An Incheon official said Hwang had been suffering from a chronic disease.
"People with diabetes or liver disorders should be careful of eating seafood, and those who have open cuts should stay out of the sea as the bacteria can also be waterborne," the official said.
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