Barajas became sick after eating the undercooked fish that she had purchased from a local market in San Jose.

California: In a tragic incident that has emerged from California, a woman lost all her limbs after contracting a bacterial infection, allegedly from consuming undercooked tilapia fish contaminated with a lethal strain of bacteria, according to accounts from her friends.  Laura Barajas, a 40-year-old, spent a month in the hospital following a critical lifesaving surgery, as reported by the New York Post. “It’s just been really heavy on all of us. It’s terrible. This could’ve happened to any of us,” said Ms. Barajas’ friend Anna Messina to KRON.

According to Messina, Barajas became sick after eating the undercooked fish that she had purchased from a local market in San Jose.

“She almost lost her life. She was on a respirator,” Ms Messina said.

“They put her into a medically induced coma. Her fingers were black, her feet were black, and her bottom lip was black. She had complete sepsis, and her kidneys were failing,” she added.

Ms. Messina has reported that Barajas contracted Vibrio vulnificus, a potentially lethal bacterium commonly present in raw seafood and seawater. This highlights the vital significance of correctly preparing and handling seafood to mitigate such serious health hazards.

“The ways you can get infected with this bacteria are, one, you can eat something that’s contaminated with it [and] the other way is by having a cut or tattoo exposed to water in which this bug lives,” UCSF Infectious Disease Expert Dr. Natasha Spottiswoode told KRON.