Quote:
Originally Posted by Hand
After digging through search results, this seemed the most closely applicable thread to post this in.
Georgia has recently suffered 3 cases of people getting some sort of flesh eating bacteria. One case has been pretty widely publicised Aimee Copeland. From the news stories she had an accident while zip lining which resulted in stitches, afterwards she contracted some flesh eating virus and was very close to death.
The second, Robert Vaughn apparently got sick after weed eating and seems to have had the bacteria before he got to the hospital; LINK.
Coincidentally, I live in Georgia and noticed the week before Aimee Copeland's case that after a hard rain, there were a number of patches of a purple looking mold on grass in my yard. I found the mold in the yards of several of my friends in surrounding counties. I was curious if there could be any correlation?
Unfortunately I really didn't pay much attention to the mold other than noting it was purple and that it only grew along blades of grass (not on plants or trees). The mold has since gone and not returned. |
The articles have a significant lack of scientific data or thoughtful comment from the physicians - typically a sign of a journalist seeking a sensationalist story.
When necrotizing fasciitis (rapidly progressing soft tissue infection) is called "flesh-eating bacteria infection" it typically is associated with an infection due to the bacteria Streptococcus pyogenes which frequently lives on the skin and/or in the respiratory tract of healthy individuals. This bacteria can cause an infection if the proper opportunity arises such as a cut or break in the skin which can be seeded by bacteria. Treatment typically involves intravenous antibiotics and wide surgical debridement which I'm sure can be discussed in greater detail by surgeons and surgical PA's on the forum.
These cases have nothing to do with mold in the yard, and the words bacteria, mold and virus cannot be used interchangably as they are entirely different organisms.
some basic general access references:
NIH overview of necrotizing fasciitis
Overview of Streptococcus pyogenes
Slightly more science-oriented Streptococcus pyogenes site: link
HTH.
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