A Durban doctor, who contracted a deadly flesh-eating bacteria through a cut on his leg while surf-skiing in the ocean, is lucky to be alive and not to have lost the limb.
Dr Peter Breedt of Hillcrest, a surf-ski enthusiast, is one of several people who have become sick after surfing or swimming at city beaches in recent months.
And, as we enter one of the hottest months of the year, one of the country’s leading water-quality experts, microbiologist Professor Eugene Cloete, dean of Stellenbosch University’s Science Department, has warned about the dangers of swimming in the sea if one has cuts, wounds or chronic liver disease.
Breedt said that, together with a medical colleague, he had diagnosed that the naturally occurring bacteria, Vibrio vulnificus, had eaten away the tissue of his foot after he had gone paddle-skiing from Ushaka Beach to the Bluff and back, in November. His wound has still not healed.
“I had a little scratch on my leg and I went surf-skiing. The water was really smelly with a sulphur kind of smell,” Dr Breedt said.
“I have spoken to surgeons who say they see it quite often and that you can get it from swimming in river mouths,” Breedt said. He started feeling sick and a black area developed on his foot six hours after surf skiing.
“I took lots of antibiotics and had three operations to cut away the dead skin and I had skin grafts,” Breedt said. “It’s hard to believe that from being healthy one minute I could get so sick.”
The only other reported case of vibrio vulnificus infection in Durban was in 2002 when fisherman Eric Erasmus died after he contracted the bacteria while collecting sand prawns in Durban harbour.
eThekweni Municipality deputy head of water and sanitation, technical support, Frank Stevens, said the water was tested five times a month at 33 beaches, including Wedge, North Beach and uShaka. He said the city spent R3 million annually on monitoring.
Stevens said vibrio vulnificus was found globally and was not part of normal beach water testing anywhere in the world.
“The public should avoid swimming in close proximity to river mouths and stormwater outlets within 24 hours of a storm event. Heavy storms, such as were experienced in December, are likely to impact beach water quality until such time as the river returns to its normal flow,” Stevens said.
A number of surfers have reported getting sick after spending time in the water around the piers.