HOUSTON -- A Galveston woman died Tuesday after she was infected with a flesh-eating bacteria, officials told the Galveston County Daily News.
Ginger Ling’s family said she lived to cook and, sadly, cooking is what ultimately may have led to her death.
“We are going to miss her a lot, it was very fast a lot faster than we thought, we didn't know," said her daughter, Tammy Bage.
Last Sunday evening, Ling, a former Bolivar school cafeteria worker, was cleaning fish at home before a family dinner. She purchased the flounder and stony crabs from a fish market, and lobster from a grocery store.
"She's worked with fish all her life with all seafood," Bage said.
But this time, the mother of four and grandmother of seven, who suffered from arthritis, hit her arm on the kitchen faucet.
"It was more of a scratch up her arm,” Bage said.
Later that night, Ling complained of a burning sensation, and by Monday morning she was in the emergency room, her daughter said.
"It had swollen up just several times its normal size," Bage said.
Ling’s arm was black and purple from her knuckle to the top of her arm.
She died Tuesday from a flesh-eating bacteria. While it hasn't been confirmed, her condtition may have been caused by vibrio, a bacterium.
It can get into your body if contaminated seawater gets into a wound or if someone eats contaminated seafood. It's especially dangerous for those with auto-immune disorders.
“Her skin was so thin anyway from the rheumatoid arthritis and all the steroids, you know we could scratch ourselves and it would be no big deal, but it could be, it would be bad for her," Bage said.
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