Woman hits every seafood shack in Boston, then the phone rings and the CDC delivers a terrifying diagnosis

When you’re planning a girls’ trip focused on hitting up every great seafood spot, the absolute last thing you expect is to receive a phone call from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but that’s exactly what happened to TikTok user Katy Colloton after her recent visit to Boston. Colloton recently shared the wild story of how her fun culinary adventure ended with a terrifying diagnosis: cholera.

Colloton and her friends went on the ultimate Boston vacation, deciding they were going to “hit up every single seafood shack you can find.” She recounted being totally enthusiastic about the menu, saying, “You have oysters and crab and lobster and shellfish, and you’re like, ‘This is fantastic.’” Unfortunately, the fun didn’t last long, according to Bro Bible. As she was heading to the airport for the trip home, Colloton started experiencing severe stomach issues, which quickly escalated into what she described as “the worst diarrhea of [her] life.”

Somehow, she managed to get back home, but the illness just wouldn’t quit. Days passed, and Colloton struggled to keep any food down. She initially believed she just had a nasty case of food poisoning, which is awful enough on its own. After a few days of resting without improvement, she realized she needed to see a doctor. When she finally arrived at the clinic, the staff requested a stool sample, which she provided.

I would freak out if the CDC called me

This is where the story takes a truly shocking turn. A few days after her doctor’s visit, her phone rang, and the caller ID showed the CDC. That’s right, the national government was getting involved in her vacation recovery. Colloton recounted the moment she received the test results, stating, “You have tested positive for cholera.” It’s a diagnosis that sounds like it should be locked away in history books. I mean, who gets cholera in the 21st century? It sounds like something only encountered in a video game.

Colloton shared her personal reaction to the news, saying that when the CDC called, they asked if she had traveled recently. When she confirmed she had just been to Boston, she laughed at the absurdity of the situation. She later admitted that the whole ordeal made her think, “I thought this only happened on The Oregon Trail.”

The CDC told Colloton the illness likely came from eating tainted oysters. She believes she simply “ate one really funky oyster,” since none of her friends who were on the same trip suffered the same fate. Cholera is caused by the Vibrio cholerae bacteria, and while it’s extremely rare in the United States, it is possible to contract it from raw seafood.

While the CDC has been in its own bad situations, it is nice to know they still look out for people. It all comes down to how oysters eat. They are filter feeders, meaning they process large amounts of coastal water. Vibrio bacteria naturally live in these coastal waters. If the oyster filters enough water containing the bacteria, it can concentrate those bacteria in its tissues, making it dangerous to eat raw. Hopefully, RFK doesn’t end up complicit in this, too.

While the most common Vibrio bacteria found in oysters are usually Vibrio vulnificus or Vibrio parahaemolyticus (which cause serious sickness but not cholera), if you happen to consume an oyster that has filtered the rarer Vibrio cholerae, you could find yourself in Colloton’s situation.

Fortunately, Colloton was never hospitalized, though she did have to go in multiple times to get IVs and have her vitals checked. Aggressive rehydration is the standard treatment for cholera, as the biggest danger is dehydration. She was sick for a couple of weeks, with the first two being the absolute worst. After that, she noted, she felt fine, believing she had simply “s— it all out, and then I was good.”

Commenters were absolutely stunned that this kind of illness could be contracted from a simple meal in a major American city. One user joked that she must have been playing Oregon Trail: the immersive experience.” However, several other users shared similar stories, confirming that unexpected illnesses are more common than we’d like to admit. One person recalled getting cholera in 2018 after having seafood right before the onset of symptoms, proving that while rare, this is definitely a fear we should probably add to our list before ordering that next dozen raw oysters.