A 77-year-old Houston woman who fell into contaminated floodwaters during Hurricane Harvey and contracted a flesh-eating infection has died, Texas officials said.
Nancy Reed died Sept. 15, becoming the 36th Harvey-related death in Texas, the Harris County Institute of Forensic Science said. Reed was wounded when she fell inside her flooded home, and she contracted necrotizing fasciitis, a skin infection that kills the body's soft tissue, NBC News reports. This is a rare disease, with just 700 to 1,100 cases reported in the U.S. every year. Because the bacteria spread fast, if not treated quickly, the infection is deadly.
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