Fitness fanatic contracts flesh-eating bacteria after treading on shells during walk on South Carolina beach

A South Carolina man was infected with a flesh-eating bacteria after walking on seashells - as scientists warn increasing numbers of similar cases could be linked to climate change.

Brent Norman was strolling along the shores of Sullivan's Island and the Isle of Palms near Charleston, South Carolina. in his effort to get 15,000 to 20,000 steps every day when he stepped on some shells in late April.

Days later, the health-conscious man was in excruciating pain and said his foot became swollen and he could no longer walk.

He went to the emergency room, where a doctor informed him he had contracted Vibrio, a deadly flesh-eating bacteria that lurks in seawater and estuaries.

'It's maybe as if someone had driven a — I don't know, a nail through my foot,' Norman told WCIV.

Brent Norman (pictured) was infected with a flesh-eating bacteria after stepping on seashells while walking along a South Carolina beach

Days later, the health-conscious man was in excruciating pain and said his foot (pictured) became swollen and he could no longer walk

The flesh around his heel appeared blistered, red and swollen, which led him to go to the doctor, who informed him he had contracted Vibrio, a deadly flesh-eating bacteria

The flesh around his heel appeared blistered, red and swollen, which led him to go to the doctor.

'Everyone behind the check-in counter, their eyes were about double the size they normally were. I could tell people were uncomfortable sitting around me looking at it,' Norman said.

'She lanced it, removed the debris from there. And then gave me an antibiotic shot and then also pills that I'm taking for two weeks.'

Vibrio vulnificus, which proliferates in warm temperatures, is infecting twice as many East Coasters compared to 2022, new data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows.

Scientists say its increase in prevalence is due to gradually rising water temperatures near the US.

The gruesome bug enters the body through cuts and grazes in the skin, and begins to eat human flesh within 24-hours. Without treatment, the disease can cause necrosis — tissue death — and the deadly blood infection septicemia.

Estimates suggest about one in three infections are fatal.

Experts warned in the CDC report that 'Vibrio vulnificus infections are expected to become more common' due to 'coastal water rising temperatures.'  

Norman was strolling along the shores of Sullivan's Island (pictured) and the Isle of Palms  near Charleston, South Carolina, in his effort to get 15,000 to 20,000 steps every day when he step on some shells in late April

Norman said once his infection is healed, he plans on getting back into his routine of walking on the beach.

'I've grown up on beaches all my life and stepped on probably over ten thousand shells,' Norman said.

'My reward is living at the beach and I intend to continue to do that. Go as soon as my foot is healed. I will be back on the beach.'

Millions of Americans were warned to be careful at the beach over the Labor Day weekend last year due to the risk of catching Vibrio bacteria.

Experts told DailyMail.com that anyone with an open wound should avoid swimming in waters where Vibrio had been identified. 

Dr. Luis Ostrosky — an infectious disease expert at UTHealth Houston in Texas — said this was a 'very, very aggressive bacteria'.

He told DailyMail.com: 'If you have any cuts, don't go in the water.

'You should be very aware of cuts and not go in seawater if you have any of those.

'If you are immunocompromised, diabetic, or have liver cirrhosis, it is really not a great idea right now to go swimming [in the ocean].'