RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ A health official says flesh-eating bacteria contributed to the death of a Virginia man.

The Richmond Times-Dispatch (http://bit.ly/1fEG4OU) reports 75-year-old Charles Horner of Mechanicville died last week after a leg cut he sustained from a catfish spine in the Rappahannock River became infected.

Chickahominy Health District Director Thomas Franck says Horner is the first death reported in Virginia this year from vibrio vulnificus.

The bacteria occur naturally in warm coastal waters, especially in the summer months.
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Information from: Richmond Times-Dispatch, http://www.timesdispatch.com