Three men have been struck down by a rare flesh-eating bug – with one of them dead as a result of the horrifying condition. All three of the patients, aged 47, 65 and 81, are thought to have contracted the horrific disease in different ways, but all suffered the same symptoms.
The first patient, 65, was diagnosed with streptococcus pyogenes after being admitted to hospital when his left eyelid began swelling, and he suffered vomiting and nausea. The eye also showed signs of hypothermia and blood secretion without pus. A swab was taken and the man was kept in hospital while antibiotics were administered.
While taking the drugs, his temperature skyrocketed and overnight he started forming white lesions around his eye. Doctors rushed him into surgery, where they found necrotic [dead] tissue around his eye, nose and neck. He passed away within two weeks after developing a multi-drug resistant bacteria.
The second patient, aged 47, also presented with a swollen left eyelid after hitting his head the day before. Luckily, after multiple surgical revisions, doctors were able to remove all necrotic tissue. A week later he was given the all-clear.
The third patient, an 81-year-old man, was reported to have had a sudden swelling of his left eyelid, coupled with discolouring. After all dead tissue was removed, the patient was able to walk away without any major disfigurement and good lid function.
The rare flesh-eating condition is known as periorbital necrotizing soft tissue infection (NSTI), and is caused by either polymicrobial infection (type 1) or streptococcus pyogenes and/or staphylococcus species (type 2). The three cases were presented in a medical journal earlier this year.
“Based on the negative experience with our first case, we developed a more aggressive surgical plan for cases with periorbital NSTI,” reads an extract of the report by lead author Isabella D. Baur from the University Eye Clinic Augsburg in Germany.
“After early debridement, the patient is surgically reevaluated on a daily basis until surgery is deemed to have been unnecessary. We follow this approach, as necrotic tissue is sometimes identified intraoperatively from a lack of resistance to manipulation rather than from its clinical aspect alone. At a later point, plastic surgery may be required when the infection is under control.”
This comes after a woman opened up about the moment “alarm bells” were ringing before she received a devastating diagnosis. Marsailidh Groat, from Edinburgh, Scotland, was only 12 when she noticed something was wrong.
She began suffering excruciating headaches which seemed to heighten when she sneezed, coughed or laughed. She underwent a brain scan and was diagnosed with a rare condition called chiari malformation.
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