Don’t Wash a Wound with Sea Water

According to the British Medical Journal, a 31-year-old man ignored warnings about swimming after getting a new tattoo on his right calf and contracted a flesh-eating bacteria infection while swimming in the Gulf of Mexico.

He developed sepsis at the site of the tattoo and two weeks later was put on life-support, but doctors reported that alcohol abuse had left him susceptible to infection and septic shock. They were unable to save him. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are 100 such deaths each year, some attributable to exposing a wound to seawater.