Texas residents Vicki Bergquist and wife Jeanette LeBlanc were visiting family in Louisiana. They went crabbing with friends and family on the coast, picking up a sack of raw oysters in a market in Westwego. It wasn't long after when LeBlanc's health rapidly declined, CBS affiliate KLFY reports.
The couple's friend Karen Bowers says she and LeBlanc shucked and ate about two dozen raw oysters.
"About 36 hours later she started having extreme respiratory distress, had a rash on her legs and everything," Bergquist said.
"An allergic reaction of sorts, that's what I would call it. That's what we thought," Bowers added.
LeBlanc's condition went from bad to worse in the first 48 hours.
Doctors told Jeanette she had vibrio — a potentially deadly bacterial infection.
"It's a flesh-eating bacteria. She had severe wounds on her legs from that bacteria," Bergquist said.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, people can become infected with vibrio after eating raw or under-cooked shellfish or by exposing open wounds to brackish water.
The couple's friend Karen Bowers says she and LeBlanc shucked and ate about two dozen raw oysters.
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