What to Know
A Florida mom is speaking out after nearly losing her life. In 2025, Genevieve Gallagher went to Pensacola Beach with her young daughter and husband. After going boating, Gallagher took her daughter for a swim. Everything seemed normal until a few days later. Suddenly, her leg felt hot, and soon it was bubbling with blisters and she was being taken to the hospital.
After being unconscious for several days, Gallagher woke to find she had been affected by vibrio vulnificus, a flesh-eating bacteria. Thankfully, doctors were able to save her life from the rare infection. But as cases rise, she’s sharing her story as a warning.
Gallagher has a strong message for people after her ordeal.
“I was taken back for immediate surgery, where my body began to shut down,” Gallagher told FOX 35. “Every organ in my body began to fail. I went septic. I was intubated for six days, almost lost my life.”
A year after her life-altering illness, the mom is sharing her story broadly to keep people from suffering the same way she did.
“This will turn your life upside down,” she told WESH. “I lost so much of my left leg, below my kneecap. It’s unbelievable the amount of trauma I’ve been through.”
During the interview she acknowledged that she had a cut when she went boating with her family. She said that several days later, “everything started to go downhill.” The previously healthy mom was unconscious for days following her hospitalization.
Now that she’s on the other side, she understands how much she unintentionally risked her life during that outing.
“Going to the beach for a day of fun is not worth it. If you have a cut on your leg, a mosquito bite that you scratched and it’s open, if you shaved your legs before you are going to the beach the next day, you are leaving those little microscopic openings for this bacteria to make its way in,” she said.
“It’s very serious. You can lose your life.”
The infection is rare, but it’s dangerous.
Family medicine physician Dr. Autumn Barnes also spoke with WESH, telling the outlet that it’s rare to get such a bacterial infection.
“Flesh-eating bacteria is a bit of a misnomer. What we’re really talking about is different bacteria, specifically Vibrio vulnificus in this case, that can cause a serious infection called necrotizing fasciitis. Now, that can cause a lot of damage to your tissues really quickly,” Barnes said.
She said that there are two ways you can be exposed. One of the ways is through uncooked shellfish, especially oysters. You can also be exposed by going into warm saltwater or brackish water — a mixture of salt and fresh water, with a cut.
“Not everyone who is exposed to it is going to get this infection. It is fairly rare,” Barnes said. “But once you do get it, it’s something that you’d want to pay attention to fairly quickly. People who are more likely to get infected are those with compromised immune systems.”
Cases are yet again on the rise.
According to the Florida Department of Health, there have been 15 cases of vibrio vulnificus this year. Brevard County had one case involving a child between 10 and 14, while Marion County had two cases and Polk County had one, WESH reported.
So far, two cases have been deadly: one case in Marion County, and one case in Palm Beach County. There have been five deaths from the illness in Louisiana out of nine reported cases, per the Louisiana Department of Health.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, common symptoms include watery diarrhea, stomach cramps, nausea, vomiting, fever and chills.
A bloodstream infection includes low blood pressure and blistering skin lesions, while a wound infection includes swelling, pain, warmth, discoloration, and discharge.
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