Man dies from flesh-eating bacteria he got from scraping leg on boat, family says

BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. (WVUE/Gray News) – A 77-year-old Mississippi man died from Vibrio vulnificus, or flesh-eating bacteria, after scraping his leg on a boat trailer, his family said.

Basil Kennedy’s daughter said he scraped his leg on his boat trailer in Bay St. Louis early last month. He cleaned it, bandaged it, then thought nothing more of it.

Kay Kennedy Regimbal said the next three days went by like normal for her father before his health suddenly and sharply declined.

“His blood pressure was dropping,” she said in a phone interview with WVUE on Monday. “His lactic acid was rising. His fever was not under control, and so it was very clear that there were signs of something going on. But there was no indication of exactly what it was.”

It was only after hours in the emergency room that the problem became clear.

“His leg started to slowly swell,” she said. “Then, it became a little bit red, and it was like, ‘OK, something’s not right here.’ But then, once it really took hold in the leg, I mean we were just watching it swell, blister, fluid – everything you expect from the flesh-eating bacteria.”

Kennedy, 77, died July 21 after coming home from the hospital on hospice care.

“His kidneys never woke up,” Kennedy Regimbal said. “They had shut down from the septic shock. His liver was declining daily as a result of the septic shock, and ... there’s nothing they could do.”

Vibrio can appear in warm coastal waters. While Kennedy was an avid boater, his family says he never got in the water after he scraped his leg. In their grief, his family has a message.

“There doesn’t need to be a fear of the water,” Kennedy Regimbal said. “There really needs to be an education and an understanding of how to be prepared for a situation where you may be exposed or there is a potential risk.”

Kennedy was born in New Orleans and attended De La Salle High School before moving to Bay St. Louis. He retired from banking about 10 years ago and had spent his retirement traveling.

Kennedy Regimbal said she’ll miss her father’s humor most.

“He was very much a family man, a community man,” Kennedy Regimbal said. “He truly had a servant’s heart and just wanted to leave everything better than he found it.”

Louisiana health officials said as of last week, the state has had 17 Vibrio infections, resulting in four deaths. Raw or undercooked seafood can also carry Vibrio, especially oysters. The bacteria are most concentrated in coastal waters between May and October.