Man loses his right leg to flesh-eating bacteria from swimming on idyllic Connecticut beach

A Connecticut man lost his leg after contracting flesh-eating bacteria on the beach. 

Bruce Kagan, 68, had a cut on his right foot when he went swimming at Hammonasset Beach State Park in June, but he wasn’t concerned about it, he told NBC. 

Days later, he started feeling sick and lethargic, and eventually took himself to the hospital on June 30. 

There, doctors dealt him the terrifying news: he had contracted necrotizing fasciitis, a fast-moving, often deadly type of bacteria that eats through human tissue. 

After weeks of racing to contain the bacteria, doctors were forced to amputate Kagan’s leg above the knee in a bid to save his life on August 1. 

Bruce Kagan, 68, had a cut on his right foot when he went swimming at Hammonasset Beach State Park in June, but he wasn’t concerned about it

Days later, he started feeling sick and lethargic, and took himself to the hospital

Days later, he started feeling sick and lethargic, and took himself to the hospital

Necrotizing fasciitis, and vibrio vulnificus, a related type of bacteria, were once only common in warmer waters, in the Southern US - if in the US at all. But as the climate changes, these deadly bacteria feel increasingly at home in more northern waters. Pictured: Hammonasset Beach State Park

Necrotizing fasciitis, and vibrio vulnificus, a related type of bacteria, were once only common in warmer waters, in the Southern US – if in the US at all. But as the climate changes, these deadly bacteria feel increasingly at home in more northern waters. Pictured: Hammonasset Beach State Park

It is becoming an increasingly common path to infection as unwitting summer swimmers jump into fresh waters with innocuous-seeming scrapes on their bodies. Pictured: Hammonasset Beach State Park

It is becoming an increasingly common path to infection as unwitting summer swimmers jump into fresh waters with innocuous-seeming scrapes on their bodies. Pictured: Hammonasset Beach State Park

‘It’s all because of a little cut. It’s all it was, a little cut. Nothing more, nothing less,’ Kagan told NBC. 

‘My life changed within one moment saying ‘yeah, it’s going to be okay.’ Next moment, ‘we don’t know if you’re going to be okay.”

Necrotizing fasciitis, and vibrio vulnificus, a related type of bacteria, were once only common in warmer waters, in the Southern US – if in the US at all. 

But as the climate changes, these deadly bacteria feel increasingly at home in more northern waters. 

A study published in June by Cooper University Hospital found evidence of vibrio in the Delaware Bay, which was once too cold to harbor such bacteria, suggesting it is moving up the east coast. 

Cases of necrotizing fasciitis have also been reported in New Jersey, a southern neighbor to Connecticut. 

Water is not the only place a person can contract necrotizing fasciitis – indeed, a Connecticut woman died shortly after delivering her third child last July after contracting the bacteria during childbirth. 

However, it is becoming an increasingly common path to infection as unwitting summer swimmers jump into fresh waters with innocuous-seeming scrapes on their bodies. 

Kagan, who is now in a rehab center to recover, said he's just happy to be alive

Kagan, who is now in a rehab center to recover, said he’s just happy to be alive

After weeks of racing to contain the bacteria, doctors were forced to amputate Kagan's leg above the knee in a bid to save his life

After weeks of racing to contain the bacteria, doctors were forced to amputate Kagan’s leg above the knee in a bid to save his life

A doctor at the Hospital of Central Connecticut told NBC that rates have soared in the state in the last decade – partly driven by the changing climate, but also driven by the rise in people with conditions that compromise their immune system.

‘I do know over the decade we have more people who are immune compromised, have severe liver disease so we have more people at risk for this type of infection,’ Dr Joseph Glassford Garner told the station. 

Kagan, who is now in a rehab center to recover, said he’s just happy to be alive.  

‘All I can say is that I am by far one of the luckiest men in the whole world, by far. I don’t know how I made it, but I did.’

He added: ‘I’ve got 20, 25 years left on this Earth. I’m going to make it good. That’s what I’m going to do.’ 

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk