Social media influencer Billy LeBlanc recently took to Instagram to announce that his partner his partner Natalie Clark passed away after falling ill due to consuming raw oysters.
He said both of the contracted vibrio vulnificus from raw oysters. While Billy LeBlanc "almost died" and was in hospital for 12 days, his partner passed away.
I will always remember how we got lost everywhere together, he wrote in a post, sharing a few pictures of them together.
Billy LeBlanc's mother Yvette Berthelot LeBlanc said in a Facebook post that "Billy and Natalie ate raw oysters and contracted a deadly virus."
What is vibrio vulnificus
Vibrio vulnificus is a potentially life-threatening bacterial infection that can be contracted from eating uncooked or raw seafood, particularly oysters. People can also contract it from seawater entering a wound.
According to my.clevelandclinic.org, nearly 100 to 200 cases of vibrio vulnificus infection are reported from the US every year. It takes barely a few hours for the virus to spread from the intestines to blood and other organs.
Symptoms of vibrio vulnificus include fever, chills, skin redness or rash, blisters on skin, nausea, diarrhea, and dizziness.
According to a study, published in 2014, Vibrio vulnificus is fatal in nearly one in people people infected in the US.
