A 27-year-old woman nearly died from a flesh-eating bacteria: Act quickly, at the first symptoms!

Steph Deschamps / September 21, 2020

A 27-year-old woman nearly died from a flesh-eating bacteria in the UK.

Rhea, 27, had noticed a small red painful spot on the top of her leg. The young woman didn't care, but only five hours after she noticed her, her life was suddenly in danger.

Her entire thigh started to ignite and turned black in places. She was immediately taken to hospital where she had to undergo eight operations in less than a week to remove the skin infected with what is called necrotizing fasciitis, or deep necrotizing bacterial derma-hypodermitis.

"I felt so bad after my day at work that I made an appointment with the doctor and was then rushed to hospital," she tells the Mirror. “It all happened so fast. The doctors said that if I had waited a few more hours I would not have survived. « 

“The doctors kept asking me if I had been overseas. They thought I might have been bitten by something, but I wasn't. It was scary not knowing what caused my illness, because when I finally got out of the hospital, I was worried about contracting it again, even though it's something very rare ”, explains. she. "Since I was bedridden for weeks, I had to learn to walk again and was on leave for a whole year. »

Rhea now shares her story to raise awareness about necrotizing fasciitis and prevent early symptoms to be taken seriously: “I was very lucky. From the first symptoms, act quickly! “, She warns. "When I was first told about my diagnosis, I had no idea what it was, most doctors had not treated cases before because this disease is extremely rare. »

Necrotizing fasciitis, now known as deep necrotizing bacterial dermal-hypodermitis, is an extremely serious infection. The severity with which it attacks the skin and then tissue to muscle has earned it the name of "flesh-eating disease". It leads to death in 30% of cases.

Credit : Sudinfo