Lenny and Joann Buck wanted to spend their 24th wedding anniversary at the beach in Baldwin County, but the Georgia couple's vacation plans now include the hospital. 
 
 Lenny got sick after eating raw oysters at an Orange Beach restaurant. He had a fever and developed sores and blisters on one of his legs. Lenny contracted Vibrio Vulnificus, a potentially deadly, flesh eating bacteria. 
 
 The bacteria thrives in warm, saltwater and can enter the body through open wounds or by eating contaminated shellfish. The bacteria can be particularly dangerous to people with pre-existing medical conditions or compromised immune systems. 
 
 Lenny- who is diabetic and a cancer survivor- has been at South Baldwin Regional Medical Center in Foley for the past 13 days. He faces his 6th surgery Thursday to repair his damaged and infected leg. 
 
 Doctors say Lenny won't be able to walk for at least four months. Lenny tells us he's never eating raw oysters again. ||||| (CNN) A New Jersey man who went into a river fishing for crabs returned with something else entirely: a deadly bacterial infection. 
 
 Angel Perez, 60, went crabbing in Maurice River on July 2, according to CNN affiliate KYW. The next day, in pain with a swollen leg, he went to went to urgent care, where he was given antibiotics. But the symptoms got worse. He developed sores on his legs and began hallucinating, and his kidneys began shutting down, KYW reported. 
 
 Perez tested positive for a bacterium commonly found in coastal ocean water, Vibrio vulnificus, according to KYW. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that these bacteria cause about 205 infections per year nationwide. Some cases require limb amputations, and 15% to 30% of cases are fatal , according to the agency. 
 
 Perez's daughter, Dilena Perez-Dilan, said that her father's leg turned "practically [a] brown, blackish color" before his condition deteriorated further, according to CNN affiliate WPVI. The infection spread to all four limbs, the station reports. 
 
 Perez-Dilan told KYW that the "choice is life or limbs, and I've heard that multiple times." 
 
 Infections caused by Vibrio bacteria can enter "through an existing wound and ... cause other complications such as necrotizing fasciitis [an infection causing tissue death], which he unfortunately got," Megan Sheppard, a health officer with the Cumberland County Department of Health, told KYW. 
 
 The infection spread to Perez's limbs. His daughter said the "choice is life or limbs." 
 
 But this may be an unlikely way to get infected, according to experts. 
 
 "In the USA, most serious infections appear to occur with the ingestion of raw oysters along the Gulf Coast, as nearly all oysters are reported to harbor V. vulnificus during the summer months and 95% of cases were related to raw oyster ingestion," according to a report published last year in the medical journal BMJ Case Reports , which chronicled the case of a man who died after swimming in the Gulf of Mexico with a freshly inked tattoo. 
 
 Experts advise anyone with open wounds or cuts to stay out of the water and those with compromised immune systems or chronic conditions to avoid eating raw shellfish. 
 
 When a number of cases were reported last year in Alabama , Dr. Karen Landers, assistant state health officer for the Alabama Department of Public Health, told CNN that it's important to be "wound- and water-aware," especially during the summer months. 
 
 "The overarching message is that we must have a specific awareness for our own health and our own safety," she said. "Let's say you sustain a wound in the water. You need to watch for signs and symptoms of illness." 
 
 The larger family of Vibrio bacteria causes an estimated 80,000 illnesses and 100 deaths per year nationwide, according to the CDC . When ingested, these bacteria can cause symptoms like diarrhea and vomiting, which typically start within 24 hours and last about three days. Severe illnesses like Perez's are rare, but they are more likely among people with fragile immune systems. 
 
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 "Rapid treatment is really critical," CDC epidemiologist Dr. Rajal Mody previously told CNN . "If someone is eating raw oysters, especially in a high-risk group, or is swimming in the ocean and notices skin lesions that are worsening quickly, it is important to get early treatment." 
 
 "We've all been praying," Perez-Dilan told KYW. "I think our spirituality, our religion, has been allowing us to get through without going into a chaotic mess." ||||| A 71-year-old Sarasota man who ate a raw oyster at a Sarasota County restaurant died from a bacterial infection two days later, according to the Florida Department of Health. 
 
 The health department declined to identify the man and the restaurant, but department spokesman G. Steve Huard said the man died July 10. 
 
 The bacteria is identified as Vibrio vulnificus, which lives in warm, brackish seawater. Infections are rare but they can be contracted by eating tainted raw shellfish — such as oysters — or by exposing open wounds to salt water. 
 
 State health officials advise against going into the water if you have fresh cuts or scrapes. 
 
 People with weaker immune systems are at higher risk of infection, so officials also recommend they wear flip-flops, sandals or shoes on the beach to guard against getting cuts and scrapes from shells, rocks and other debris. 
 
 Vibrio vulnificus is sometimes referred to as a “flesh-eating bacteria” but health officials say that label is misleading because it cannot attack healthy skin. 
 
 Symptoms can include diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, fever and chills, rapid pulse, rapid breathing, wound infections and intestinal infections. 
 
 This is the first confirmed case and death from Vibrio vulnificus in Sarasota County this year. There were no reported cases last year, officials said. 
 
 Broward County had one case last year and a fatality in 2016. Palm Beach County has had one case so far this year, one case last year, and three cases in 2016, with one death, according to the health department website. 
 
 wkroustan@sunsentinel.com or 954-356-4303 or Twitter @WayneRoustan 
 
 Raw oysters kill one person a month in the United States. 
 
 Protect public from dangers of raw Gulf oysters 
 
 Woman dies of flesh-eating bacteria after eating raw oysters
– Not long after Florida warned beachgoers to be careful, new reports are emerging of tourists suffering from flesh-eating bacteria. The Weather Channel points to reports of at least three deaths in the state this year, while others have suffered from Vibrio Vulnificus in Alabama and Texas. A Georgia man ended up with sores on his leg and a fever after eating raw oysters at a restaurant in Orange Beach, Alabama; officials have warned against eating raw shellfish. Diabetic and cancer survivor Lenny Buck, who was celebrating his 24th wedding anniversary, is due for a sixth surgery on his leg this week, WKRG reports. A woman from Austin, Texas, meanwhile, has contracted the disease after cutting her foot on an oyster in Galveston. "That oyster was like a razor blade, like a surgeon’s scalpel, it went straight through," Michelle O'Brien says, per KFOR. She was hospitalized for five days and says she would have lost her foot without antibiotics. The illness can be contracted by swimming in affected areas, and it can be fatal about half the time. (Read about another "nightmare bacteria" also on the rise in the South.)