Texas woman dies after contracting flesh-eating bacteria from oysters in Louisiana

(FreeImages.com/Nanette Nicholson)

HOUSTON – A Texas woman died last year after she contracted flesh-eating bacteria from raw oysters she ate in Louisiana.

Jeanette LeBlanc was visiting family on the Louisiana coast in September and had picked up a sack of oysters at a market after going crabbing with some friends, according to a report by KTVE-TV.

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After she and her friends ate about two dozen of the oysters, she became violently ill, according to the report.

“About 36 hours later, she started having extreme respiratory distress,” LeBlanc’s wife, Vicki Bergquist, told the NBC affiliate. “(She) had a rash on her legs and everything.”

KTVE-TV reported that within 48 hours, doctors had diagnosed LeBlanc with vibrio, a foodborne bacteria usually associated with eating undercooked seafood.

“She had severe wounds on her legs from that bacteria,” Bergquist said.

LeBlanc died 21 days later, on Oct. 15, according to the report.

Bergquist told KTVE-TV that she wants to spread awareness now about vibrio and the risks of eating raw oysters.