Georgia, USA: Woman fighting for her life after contracting unusual flesh-eating infection

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...ecially-rare/2012/05/14/gIQA4u2TPU_story.html

Flesh-eating bacteria cases occur about 750 times a year, but Georgia woman’s especially rare

By Associated Press, Updated: Monday, May 14, 4:28 PMAP ATLANTA — Aimee Copeland, a Georgia grad student, is fighting for her life because of the flesh-eating bacteria that infected her after she gashed her leg in a river two weeks ago. One of her legs was amputated and her fingers will be too, her father says, because of the spreading infection.

She has a rare condition, called necrotizing fasciitis, in which marauding bacteria run rampant through tissue. Affected areas sometimes have to be surgically removed to save the patient’s life.

HOW OFTEN DO PEOPLE GET THESE INFECTIONS?

The government estimates roughly 750 flesh-eating bacteria cases occur each year, usually caused by a type of strep germ.

However, Aimee Copeland’s infection was caused by another type of bacteria, Aeromonas hydrophila. Those cases are even rarer. One expert knew of only a few reported over the past few decades.

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[Emily]

Re: Georgia, USA: Woman fighting for her life after contracting unusual flesh-eating infection

A super-virulent form of this bacteria evolved in catfish farms in Alabama recently.
Veterinary Microbiology

Volume 152, Issues 1?2, 26 August 2011, Pages 117?125
Identification of unique DNA sequences present in highly virulent 2009 Alabama isolates of Aeromonas hydrophila

In 2009, a disease outbreak caused by Aeromonas hydrophila occurred in 48 catfish farms in West Alabama, causing an estimated loss of more than 3 million pounds of food size channel catfish. Virulence studies have revealed that the 2009 isolates of A. hydrophila are at least 200-fold more virulent than a 1998 Alabama isolate AL98-C1B....

There's a report here of leech therapy at a hospital in the U.S. going badly wrong due to an environmentally obtained leech having been infected with antibiotic resistant Aeromonas hydrophila.

 

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Re: Georgia, USA: Woman fighting for her life after contracting unusual flesh-eating infection

http://www.chicagotribune.com/healt...a-infectionbre84i0ee-20120519,0,2550098.story

Georgia flesh-eating bacteria patient breathing on own: father

ATLANTA (Reuters) - A Georgia graduate student fighting a rare flesh-eating bacterial infection she contracted after being injured in a zip-line accident nearly three weeks ago is breathing on her own without the help of a ventilator, her father said.

The struggle to save 24-year-old Aimee Copeland from necrotizing fasciitis - a bacterial infection that can destroy muscles, skin and tissue - has been chronicled by her father, Andy Copeland, in a blog on the university's website.

"She has been off of the ventilator for over 10 hours," Andy Copeland wrote late on Sunday. "In other words, she is breathing completely on her own! How cool is that?"

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Re: Georgia, USA: Woman fighting for her life after contracting unusual flesh-eating infection

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/...d=maing-grid7|main5|dl1|sec1_lnk3&pLid=164863

Aimee Copeland Speaks: Georgia Woman Battling Flesh-eating Bacteria Continues Recovery

ATLANTA -- A young Georgia woman battling a flesh-eating disease could hardly believe it when she was able to speak Sunday for the first time since she was taken to an Augusta hospital more than three weeks ago, her father said Monday.

"Hello. Whoa. Wow, my mind is blown," were Aimee Copeland's first words Sunday morning to her sister and mother, her father said in a phone interview Monday with The Associated Press. Andy Copeland was in church at the time and had to wait until a later visitation time Sunday evening to hear his daughter's voice.

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Re: Georgia, USA: Woman fighting for her life after contracting unusual flesh-eating infection

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/...d=maing-grid7|main5|dl1|sec1_lnk3&pLid=170579

Aimee Copeland Fights Flesh-eating Bacteria While Refusing Pain Meds

ATLANTA -- A Georgia woman fighting a flesh-eating disease is refusing to take pain medications during some procedures, partly because of her personal convictions, her father said.

Aimee Copeland despises the use of morphine in her treatment, despite its effectiveness at blocking her pain, her father said in a Friday online update on his daughter's condition. Her graduate-school study of holistic pain management techniques leads her to feel she's a "traitor to her convictions" when she uses drugs to manage her pain, Andy Copeland said.

He also said the morphine has been making his daughter groggy, confused and has given her unpleasant hallucinatory episodes.

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Re: Georgia, USA: Woman fighting for her life after contracting unusual flesh-eating infection

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/...d=maing-grid7|main5|dl1|sec1_lnk3&pLid=171000

Aimee Copeland Breaks And Pleads For Painkillers Following Skin Graft Surgery

Flesh-eating bacteria victim Aimee Copeland is pleading for painkillers after skin graft surgery has left her feeling like a ?patchwork quilt,? according to her father, Andy Copeland.

The Georgia student, 24, originally refused pain medications due in part to her personal convictions and graduate-school background in holistic pain management techniques. Her preferred method of dealing with the pain was meditation, but that has done little to assuage the sting of skin grafts and muscle flaps that were necessary to close a gaping wound on her abdomen and groin.

According to Dr. J. Blair Summitt, assistant professor of plastic surgery at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn., a skin graft transplant is a fairly straightforward procedure, but a painful one that often necessitates narcotic painkillers like morphine and Fentanyl for patients, ABC News reports.

?Aimee is now taking pain medication in as liberal a dose as can be prescribed. If she even dared to refuse taking it, which she wouldn?t, then the doctors would most certinaly administer it in an IV drip,? her father wrote in a blog post.

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[Emily]

Re: Georgia, USA: Woman fighting for her life after contracting unusual flesh-eating infection

Aimee Copeland leaves hospital; 'chomping at the bit' to start rehab, says father

By Helena Oliviero

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Aimee Copeland called her parents at 7 a.m. Monday. Her hair was washed. Her make up on. And her body was ready to tackle the next step in recovery from a flesh-decaying infection.
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Aimee Copeland continues to experience phantom pain when she puts pressure on the amputation sites, but it's expected to improve during the coming weeks, Andy Copeland said.

During this next phase, Andy Copeland said his daughter looks forward to spending more time outdoors and eating organic fruits and vegetables, as well as enjoying some of her favorite dishes including Indian food. She also hopes to use any free time to finish her thesis, he said...