About eight years ago, TikToker Taylor (@elegancebythemile) went on a trip to New Orleans with her friends, where she tried raw oysters for the first time. From then on, she was obsessed with oysters and ordered them every time she saw them on a menu.
But after getting a vibriosis infection from eating raw oysters while on vacation in Florida, she will never take the risk of eating another one again. She and her friends ate raw oysters in Florida, and they were the best oysters she ever had.
They ate the oysters on their last night in Florida and flew back home to New Jersey the next day. She didn’t start showing signs of vibriosis until after a couple of days.
Vibriosis is an infection people can get by swallowing bacteria called Vibrio or getting it in a wound. According to the CDC, 80,000 cases of vibriosis happen each year in the United States, and 52,000 of those cases are the result of eating contaminated food. A Vibrio infection can be very serious, and it’s pretty rare.
Taylor got the feeling that something was terribly wrong when her stomach started hurting two days after arriving home. Then, the multiple bathroom trips began.
She was going to the bathroom around 30 times per day. She tried to research what could be happening to her, thinking that the tattoo she had gotten in Florida might somehow be making her sick.
A week later, her condition was only growing worse. She finally decided to go to the emergency room, as she wasn’t able to drink or eat anything.
After running a bunch of medical tests, the doctor told her that her entire inner system was inflamed.
Taylor made an appointment to see her gastroenterologist. He had her give him a stool sample. When the results came back, she found out she had Vibrio.
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“Vibrio is very, very, extremely serious,” said Taylor. “You can die from it easily, like you can lose limbs. It’s serious business. I’m lucky that nothing worse happened to me.”
“But he gave me these antibiotics to take, and they were like the worst antibiotics I’ve ever had to take. They made me feel so much worse, even though they were working.”
The antibiotics caused her to throw up all day long. All in all, she was sick for a total of three weeks and lost 15 to 20 pounds. She was dehydrated and deprived of nutrients because she couldn’t keep anything down.
Taylor states that she will never eat another raw oyster again. It is not worth the pain she suffered.
Many TikTok users shared their own experiences with Vibrio in the comments section.
“When I got Vibrio after eating oysters, I genuinely thought I was going to die. I mustered up the strength to make a lime juice, water, and salt concoction and drink it in the time before throwing up again, and I think that actually saved my life,” commented one user.
“I live in Florida. I’ve been here my whole life, and I have been to two funerals of people who did not make it through Vibrio. This is extremely scary. I used to love oysters, too, but never again,” wrote another.
“My mom survived Vibrio, too. From the bacteria on live crabs getting into a cut on her hand. Literally ate up the flesh on her entire hand and forearm,” added a third.
By Emily Chan
Emily Chan is a writer who covers lifestyle and news content. She graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in... More about Emily Chan
