Flesh-eating bacteria may cost a man all his limbs. He got it while crabbing, family says

Hours after he went crabbing in a New Jersey river, 60-year-old Angel Perez started to notice swelling in his right leg.

The man had waded into the Maurice River on June 2 with the hopes of catching some crabs, family told WPVI. Perez's daughter Dilena Perez-Dilan said her father's right leg quickly "turned (a) brown, blackish color" after he exited the brackish waters.

"It was swelling," she said. "It was blistered."

Now the man, who also has Parkinson’s Disease, is in critical condition at the Cooper University Hospital. According to NJ.com, doctors say Perez has Vibrio, a flesh-eating bacteria that is often found during warm times of the year in salt water.

The disease has spread to all four of his limbs, causing discoloration and blisters. Perez-Dilan said that doctors at the hospital are working to save her father's legs and arms — but that "the infection has spread to his blood."

"You can see it spreading from his feet all the way above his kneecap," she told NJ.com. "His forearms are black in color; they have blisters, cuts and sores."

The disease kills about 100 people in the country each year and sickens another 80,000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Vibrio usually infects a person who eats raw or undercooked shellfish but can also sicken a person who has an open wound in salt water.

The swelling started around scratches that Perez had on his right leg, family told WTXF.

Four out of five of infections happen between May and October, the CDC says, and the bacteria is more likely to infect those with a "compromised immune system."

Perez wasn't the only person to develop startling symptoms after going into the river. His daughter told NJ.com that both a family member and friend started to come down with something similar.

"I have another family member that goes to that spot; she now has a rash on her leg, and her leg (had) painful swelling," Perez-Dilan said "She got antibiotics right away ... And then another friend of (Perez) that goes fishing there, he now has a baseball-size swelling of his elbow, and that's where he's been going."

Those with open wounds are encouraged by the New Jersey Health Department to avoid brackish water, according to WPVI. Brackish water is a salty combination of fresh and seawater often found in places like the Chesapeake Bay where the ocean's salt water mixes with fresh water.

Perez-Dilan warned people that a quick dip in the waters could come with frightening consequences.

“It’s summer. People want to swim and have fun, but just be very careful," she told WTXF. "Don’t just jump in the water with wounds open. But, that’s what people do. We think water is safe.

"If you see something that’s out of the norm, go and get it checked."