Young Indiana Girl Contracts Flesh-Eating Bacteria While Visiting Florida Beach

DESTIN, FL. (THECOUNT) — Alarm bells are ringing after 12-year-old Indiana girl, Kylei Brown, contracted a flesh-eating bacteria, or “necrotizing fasciitis,” from a Florida Panhandle beach.

The Brown family was vacationing in Destin, Florida, when they visited the beach the weekend of June 7. Mom, Michelle Brown, says that daughter woke up a couple of days later and said she “felt sick.”

Kylei is now facing surgeries and months of physical therapy and her mother said her daughter had pain in her calf on her right leg, and the next day the pain was so great it kept the girl from standing or walking.

Back in Indianapolis, a doctor told Brown to take her daughter to the emergency room. During an MRI, Brown said doctors noticed an infection was “spreading and running pretty rapidly” through Kylei’s body, reports WUSA9.

Doctors observed a pocket of infection behind Kylei’s knee and diagnosed her with necrotizing fasciitis, a rare flesh-eating disease.

Kylei mother posted on Facebook that she believes the girl contracted the disease after scraping her big toe while visiting Pompano Beach.

Brown said Kylei is home now, but still faces more surgeries, treatments and physical therapy so she can get back n her feet again.

DEVELOPING:

Geo quick facts: Destin is a city in northwest Florida, in the area known as the Panhandle. It’s known for its Gulf of Mexico beaches and many golf courses, as well as the Destin Harbor Boardwalk. Nature trails pass through the dunes of Henderson Beach State Park in the south, where the coastline is dotted with pine and oak trees sheltering wildlife. To the west are the tall slides, waterfalls and pools of Big Kahuna’s water park – wikipedia.