City commissioner catches flesh eating bacteria

Thursday, July 31, 2008

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Mulberry commissioner Terry Evers gets treatment in a hyperbarric chamber at Lakeland Regional Medical Center. Watch the story Watch Video

POLK COUNTY (Bay News 9) -- Mulberry commissioner Terry Evers has spent two hours a day for the past month undergoing treatment for a flesh eating bacteria.

Evers gets treatment in a hyperbarric chamber at Lakeland Regional Medical Center. His last treatment is scheduled for Friday.

He caught the bacteria on a fishing trip last month. Evers nicked his leg as he climbed out of the boat.

"Of course I was excited about fishing," he said. "I didn't even notice it. Within an hour wading down the beach I couldn't hold my pole. My hands were shaking and my teeth were rattling."

Just a few hours later Evers was in a Gulfport hospital with a raging fever, low blood pressure and huge blisters on his leg.

"The likelihood that this could have ended poorly for him was fairly high," said Dr. Jeff Karr.

Karr said the bacteria is pretty common but infections as bad as Evers are fairly rare.

"I never really liked the term flesh eating bacteria," Karr said. "It's more of a tissue destruction bacteria. It rapidly destroys tissue which causes the patient to get very sick. It's invasive so it can spread through the body quickly."

The leg wound is healing but Evers is still pretty weak.

"It's a chore just to go in and brush my teeth and shave," he said. "I'm wore out."