Good morning, this Dr. Kevin Lam from NaplesPodiatrist.com
as well as the physician blog DrKevinLam.com
A couple of years ago I wrote about
the flesh-eating bacteria Vibrio vulnificus,
it is a bacteria that is known for causing
necrotizing fasciitis or they call it flesh-eating bacteria
When I wrote that about a couple years ago, it wasn't as popular but
I saw two of these patients in my office under suspicion of such.
Both of these patients were in the backwater,
one of them was snook fishing, the other one was
pushing off his boat off an oyster bar.
Unfortunately, neither one wore water shoes,
boat shoes or any kind of foot protective device
when they jumped off their boat.
One was trying to retrieve his snook,
the other one was trying to push his foot off --
push his boat off an oyster bar.
So today is October 8, 2015
October 7 -- Fort Myers News Press published a story about
a man who lost his life secondary to necrotizing fasciitis
after fishing in Bonita Springs.
He suffered a leg injury, contracted this bacteria,
went up his leg through his GI system
and eventually unfortunately killed him.
Now this necrotizing fasciitis bacteria moves very fast.
If it enters through the skin through a cut from a shell on the beach or
an oyster bar, this bacteria moves very quickly.
It loves salt water, even brackish water
will contain this,
it moves through the planes of your tissue very quickly
eating up the fascia
which is why it has the name "necrotizing fasciitis".
The fascia is the band of tissue that
holds your muscle in together.
It will eat up your muscles, it would eat up the tendons,
it will eat up the vessels in your lower extremity
once contracted.
Now people at risk are -- actually everybody is at risk
but people are more at risk if you are
immunocompromised secondary to chemotherapy,
you're on immunosuppressants from anything
such as rheumatoid arthritis, autoimmune disease,
if you have diabetes.
So, you know, the water here is awesome,
I love fishing, I love the beach,
but if you get a cut on your foot or leg
in the backwater or even on the beach
and you develop severe redness
you suffer...you see blisters on your foot and leg,
immediately get yourself to the emergency room,
urgent care center or to our office.
(239) 430 3668 is our number
We have doctors on staff five days a week,
we're able to see you almost immediately.
If there's a fracture or an infection, we're here to see you.
There's a couple of oral antibiotics that works for this,
only a couple.
Most of the time treatment for the foot and ankle
will entail us surgically cleaning out the surgical site
very aggressively.
In very, very extreme cases, digital amputation of
the toes, foot, or leg in order to save your life.
So this is very serious.
If you know somebody that has had a scratch on
their foot and injury to their foot or ankle -- or leg,
even the arm while fishing or playing around the beach,
if you have redness, sign of infection,
you need to see somebody right now.
This can cause limb loss,
this can cause loss of life.
One of our computer guys contracted this
while he was out fishing also,
he almost lost his arm.
Most of the patients we see here in the office
we're able... luckily we're able to save all the limbs,
we have not lost one yet because they've come in early.
But those... unfortunately those that we see
in the hospital from the emergency room or
they've been admitted,
a lot of debridement was done in the operating room
and we're still able to
save a majority of people's limbs.
But early treatment is the key.
These bacteria move fast,
we need to get on it very quickly.
So when I wrote my blog a couple years ago
people thought, you know,
I was like creating hysteria but you know
reality is, it's there,
we had it in my office within weeks apart
and identification of this bacteria is through
if a person is febrile, meaning they have a fever
is we would take blood cultures as normal,
we would go ahead and take a wound culture
if the wound is draining
but most of all before we even get all there
if it looks infected,
if it looks bad, its pussing, it has
it has a blister on it, red hot swollen
a lot of times we're not even gonna wait
for those results to come back.
We'll order those results --
we'll order those tests,
we're gonna get right into the operating room
and start cleaning it out
because this bacteria Vibrio as well as other
flesh-eating bacteria can move very fast
within 24 hours if not treated appropriately
a limb can be lost or even a life.
So it is not a light matter,
please see a specialist, see the urgent care center
or see the emergency room in after hours ASAP
if you suffer a foot or leg injury
or even an upper arm injury and
you think you might have an infection.
Time is of the essence, thank you.