Officials at Lake Meredith National Recreation Area on Wednesday reported a man died on Monday at the Pampa Regional Hospital.
Officials at the recreational area said a physician suspected the death was due to a strain of flesh-eating bacteria.
The man visited Lake Meredith National Recreation Area this past weekend, but there is no link associated with his visit to the lake and his death.
Officials report that thousands of visitors were in Lake Meredith this past weekend including park employees with no other reports of illness.
Lake Meredith used to be the main water supply for Lubbock and 10 other West Texas cities. More recently it has been used as a supplemental water source.
A release from the National Park Service said:
We have confirmed that a man died on Monday at the Pampa Regional Hospital. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family during this difficult time. We have no confirmed cause of death but the physician suspected it was a strain of flesh-eating bacteria. The man visited Lake Meredith National Recreation Area this past weekend but there is no link associated with his visit to the lake and his death. We had thousands of visitors in the water this past weekend including park employees with no other reports of illness.
Flesh-eating bacteria is a rare disease caused by several types of bacteria in the environment and commonly found on people’s skin and typically affects people with weakened immune systems and those in hospital settings.
The National Park Service takes the health and safety of our visitors very seriously, which is why we work with the United States Public Health Service and Texas Department of Health Services to minimize risk and ensure our visitors are safe. No cases of bacterial illness have been linked to Lake Meredith, and the Canadian River Municipal Water Authority routinely monitors our water quality. More information on waterborne illnesses can be found here.
(MyHighPlains.com contributed to this report.)
