“Basketball Wives” reality star Mehgan James is issuing a warning to travelers about the dangers of flesh-eating bacteria in the Caribbean after a dream vacay left a friend with an amputated limb.
On April 9, James tweeted, “So one of my homegirl’s homegirl lost her leg due to flesh-eating bacteria in the Bahamas… she shaved her leg, knicked herself with the razor, then went to Pig Island. 4 weeks later, no leg. They couldn’t figure out what it was until it was too late. That’s crazy.”
Pig Island is widely known as Pig Beach among tourists and Big Major Cay among locals. The beach is on an uninhabited island in the Bahamas’ Exuma Cays. It’s approximately 30 minutes away from the Bahamas’ capital city, Nassau, on a plane and six hours on the ferry. The island gets its unofficial name from the population of feral pigs living on the island.
The story of how the feral pigs arrived on the island varies, but nonetheless, they have become a main tourist attraction where tourists feed and swim (though not recommended) with them.
The former “Bad Girls Club” cast member continued her story in a TikTok video posted the same day.
“One of my homegirl’s homegirls went to the Bahamas. Mind you, she’s a model and actress,” she began. “She went to a group trip in the Bahamas. She was there a couple of days. She realized that she needed to shave her legs, so she shaved her legs, and in the midst of shaving her leg, she nicked herself, like, cut herself. She cleaned up her cut and forgot to bandage it up and just went to the beach.”
The Basketball Wives star says the friend woke up the following day with a pain in her leg but ignored it and continued with her trip. A few days later, she returned to the United States and her ankle was swollen. That’s when she decided to see a doctor.
Unable to determine the cause of her pain, the doctor sent the model home with ibuprofen, however, just days later, her symptoms had worsened.
“Two or three days later, her leg. She woke up, and her leg was bigger than an elephant,” said James. “She could barely walk. She got to the hospital again, and this Sunday did a blood sample on her and the results came back that she had a flesh-eating bacteria.”
She continued, “This girl had to get her leg cut off all the way to her torso. So, just a fair warning, if you’re out of the country and you have any type of open wounds, do not get in the water.”
What happened to James’ friend of a friend isn’t the first time this has happened to someone visiting Pig Beach. An Atlanta woman, Jennifer Barlow, created a GoFundMe page to help rebuild after nearly losing her life after contracting the rare flesh-eating bacteria causing necrotizing fasciitis.
“It is believed the bacteria started from a small cut on her leg exposed to ocean water while on a trip to the Bahamas,” the GoFundMe reads. “The infection spread so quickly and viciously that her brother found her unconscious in her home, requiring paramedics to rush her to the hospital where she would be immediately diagnosed with Septic Shock.”
Harlow spent two weeks in a coma because the bacteria entered her bloodstream. Harlow decided to amputate her leg after 30 surgeries and spending three months in intensive care.
What Is Necrotizing Fasciitis?
According to the National Institutes of Health, necrotizing fasciitis is usually the direct consequence of bacteria entering through a break or cut in the skin. Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococci strains are responsible for most of these single-site source infections. The rare bacterial infection spreads quickly in the body and can cause death.
The bacteria can enter the body through cuts, burns, scrapes, insect bites, punctures, and surgical wounds.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the best way to prevent this is by washing your hands often and cleaning and caring for wounds.