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n2doc

(47,953 posts)
Mon May 21, 2012, 09:26 PM May 2012

More cases of Flesh-eating Bacteria

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By Fran Jeffries
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A Cartersville man is facing his sixth surgery Tuesday after contracting the same flesh-decaying bacterial infection as Aimee Copeland.

Bobby Vaughn, 33, is the third person whose infection has come to light in recent weeks in the region.

Vaughn is being treated for necrotitis fasciitis at the same Augusta hospital as Copeland, who nearly died from the infection she contracted after a zip-line injury in Carrollton on May 1. She is improving but remains in critical condition after multiple amputations.

Vaughn, a landscaper, has been in the hospital since May 4. He said he fell ill after getting a "very small cut on his leg" near his groin area while trimming weeds.

more
http://www.ajc.com/news/3rd-person-treated-for-1442794.html


6 fighting flesh-eating bacteria in Omaha


By Bob Glissmann and Katy Healey
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITERS


Six patients battling flesh-eating bacteria, or necrotizing fasciitis, have been treated at the Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha in the last month or so.

Dr. Jeff Cooper, medical director of the hospital's hyperbaric oxygen unit, where the patients are treated, says it's the highest number of patients with the condition ever treated by the unit in such a short period of time.

Fortunately, most of the patients are doing well, officials said.

Although the condition is extremely rare, it also is deadly. Thirty to 40 percent of people who contract the bacteria will die, med center officials said. Many more people need to have limbs amputated as the bacteria quickly destroys healthy tissue and impairs the immune system. “It's a very scary disease,” Cooper said. “The infection overwhelms your body and patients often die of sepsis.”

Cooper said hyperbaric oxygen therapy is an important part of treating the disease. “It forces oxygen into areas that aren't getting adequate oxygen because of the tissue damage and swelling,” he said. “This revives the immune system locally and causes the antibiotics to work more effectively.”
more
http://www.omaha.com/article/20120521/NEWS01/120529946/-1
WTF is going on?

13 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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gateley

(62,683 posts)
1. This is scary shit. I wonder what the common cause is. I think Aimee Copeland fell into some
Mon May 21, 2012, 09:30 PM
May 2012

water infected with it, but where would a landscaper get it while trimming weeds? (Come to think of it, how did he get a small cut by his groin cutting weeds?)

ProdigalJunkMail

(12,017 posts)
3. he could be watering his yard with pond water or something
Mon May 21, 2012, 10:02 PM
May 2012

more likely it is living in the soil...as far as the cut? i have gotten dozens of cuts from flying debris whilst weed-eating...perhaps that? granted, most of mine happen around the ankle...

sP

gateley

(62,683 posts)
9. You can tell I've never weeded! And that makes sense. Yikes -- in the soil!
Tue May 22, 2012, 12:36 PM
May 2012

I'm wondering when it was first discovered, where they think the genesis was -- if it can live almost anywhere. I'm going to look into it, but I'm almost afraid to.

Old and In the Way

(37,540 posts)
2. I wonder if this is correlated to the problem with the declining effectiveness of
Mon May 21, 2012, 09:59 PM
May 2012

antibiotics and increase in MRSA cases? Very scary shit.

Avalux

(35,015 posts)
4. Yes, but necrotizing fasciitis can be caused by a variety of bacteria, or many at the same time.
Mon May 21, 2012, 10:15 PM
May 2012

An infection of the fascia, or the layer of tissue between the skin and muscle, requires a break in the skin to get in.

There haven't been any new classes of antibiotics developed in decades....just improvements on what we have unfortunately. Bacteria are living organisms and evolve; they figure out how to survive and right now we are behind the curve...

I also think that the overuse of antibacterial soaps and gels is a contributing factor to bacterial resistance. Misuse of antibiotics as well.

Quantess

(27,630 posts)
10. I thought a strain of staphylococcus in particular was the "flesh eating virus".
Tue May 22, 2012, 12:52 PM
May 2012

(From my understanding as a layperson.)

 

kestrel91316

(51,666 posts)
5. WTF is going on, you ask? One distinct possibility
Mon May 21, 2012, 10:50 PM
May 2012

is that Americans, consumed with watching stupid TV shows and playing video games, have forgotten the basic first aid step of washing cuts with soap and water and covering them with a bandage after dressing with triple antibiotic ointment.

 

lonestarnot

(77,097 posts)
11. I think you are right. Maybe Georgia should bring in a supply of betadine soap. Do they sell it
Mon Jun 4, 2012, 10:02 AM
Jun 2012

there?

REP

(21,691 posts)
8. I've had necrotizing cellulitis a few times (much less severe but still gross)
Tue May 22, 2012, 12:02 AM
May 2012

I'm prone to it on my legs for a few reasons: I've had a DVT; I have very low blood pressure to begin with; I have nephrotic syndrome, which causes pretty severe edema (I usually look like I'm wearing red eyeshadow from the bruising from the ocular edema - thank you, needing to wear glasses!) and fucks with the immune system. The awful apartment I used to live in probably didn't help. Anyway, the slightest scratch can turn into cellulitis, which can turn into necrotizing cellulitis (wound and surrounding skin sinks in and turns green ... barf). Requires lots of visits to Wound Care, pounds of antibiotics and I don't wear shorts very often

 

lonestarnot

(77,097 posts)
12. Another lady reported this a.m. in S. Carolina
Mon Jun 4, 2012, 10:08 AM
Jun 2012

South Carolina grandmother is latest victim of flesh-eating bacteria
Fewer than 250 cases are estimated to occur in U.S. each year
Comments (1)

By Erik Ortiz / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS


Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/south-carolina-grandmother-latest-victim-flesh-eating-bacteria-article-1.1089473#ixzz1wpk7tdxl



A South Carolina woman is recovering in a rehabilitation center after a rare flesh-eating bacteria — the same type that has ravaged at least four others in the South — required doctors to shear a football-sized chunk of tissue from her leg.

Afflicted grandmom Louise Thompson stood for the first time Friday, making noticeable progress after a sore on her leg two months ago turned into a near-deadly infection and required surgery, according to reports.

“I just really thought that I wasn’t going to live,” Thompson told Fox Carolina TV from the Roger C. Peace Rehabilitation Hospital in Greenville, S.C.



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