After bicycle accident 8-year-old dies of carnivorous bacteria

Necrotizing fasciitis: Eight-year-old dies from infection with carnivorous bacteria

In the US, an eight-year-old boy died after being infected with "carnivorous bacteria". He had been infected a few days earlier with a supposedly harmless bicycle accident. The doctors had tried to save the life of the child through amputations - in vain.

Boy dies a few days after a bicycle accident

The fact that little children hurt while playing is quite common. Mostly this is no cause for great concern. In a small boy from the US, however, such an injury was not lenient. He became infected with a supposedly harmless bicycle accident in which the handlebar of the wheel pierced his leg with "carnivorous bacteria" and died a few days later.

In the US, a small boy died after being infected with "carnivorous bacteria". Previously, doctors had tried to save the baby's life with amputations. Image: Sebastian Kaulitzki - fotolia

Bloody wound on the thigh

According to a report in The Oregonian newspaper, eight-year-old Liam F. of Pilot Rock, Oregon, in a bicycle accident, contracted a bleeding wound on his thigh, which was sewn by doctors in a hospital emergency room.

A few days later, the child fought for his life. According to the report, the baby's mother and stepfather noticed something was wrong when the boy complained of severe groin pain.

When his stepfather glanced at it, he found that the groin area was "purple-red and gangrenous.".

The pair immediately took the baby to St. Anthony's Hospital in Pendleton, where the doctors discovered he had sustained a dangerous bacterial infection.

The bacteria had apparently invaded his body during the bicycle accident.

Through amputations the life of the boy should be saved

The child was immediately operated on to remove infected tissue and then flown with his mother to the Doernbecher Children's Hospital in Portland.

There, the nightmare continued: "Surgeons tried to counter the rare but deadly infection known as necrotizing fasciitis by amputation of parts of the boy's body," writes "The Oregonian.".

The stepfather expressed it more drastically: "They cut him piece by piece."

"Almost all his right side was gone," said the boy's mother. "" They continued to cut and hoped. Cut and hope. "

Finally, Liam was taken to Randall Children's Hospital, where another team was able to look at the problem. There the boy died.

Serious bacterial infection

According to the National Heatlh Service (NHS), necrotizing fasciitis is a rare but serious bacterial infection that affects the tissues under the skin and the surrounding muscles and organs (fascia).

The infectious disease often starts with nonspecific symptoms such as local pain and fever.

Within a few days, the affected areas swell, with the skin above the infection becoming bluish-red and then bluish-gray.

"It is sometimes referred to as a" carnivorous disease ", even though the bacteria that cause it do not" eat "meat - they release toxins that damage nearby tissue," write the experts at the NHS.

"Necrotizing fasciitis can be a relatively small lesion, such as a small incision, but it deteriorates very quickly and can be life-threatening unless it is detected and treated early," the NHS continues.

Unfortunately, it always comes back to such infections, as a case from the UK showed. There last year a small child had been infected by a tiny laceration with "carnivorous bacteria". (Ad)