Historical development
It's been around for more than 100 years, and the name is scary
In recent years, life-killing flesh-eating fungi have gradually attracted the attention of Hong Kong people, and this bizarre disease has actually existed in human history. Until the past 10 years, many international celebrities have been infected, and the bacteria have been named the frightening "flesh-eating fungi" by the media, and flesh-eating fungi have attracted attention.
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As early as the 5th century BC, the famous Greek physician Hippocrates had described the symptoms of flesh-eating fungi, which made flesh-eating fungi enter human literature for the first time. In 1884, the French master pathologist Louis Pasteur further discovered the traces of flesh-eating bacteria on a woman, becoming the forerunner of modern similar literature.
However, in the past hundred years, even if the bacterium is highly toxic, it has not attracted attention because it is relatively rare. It was not until the mid-to-late 1990s, when the media gave the fungus "notoriety" of "flesh-eating bacteria."
In addition to Lucien Bouchard, the former governor of Quebec, Canada, there is Eric Allin Cornell, a 44-year-old Nobel laureate in physics.
In fact, although the cases of flesh bacteria are small, they are not uncommon, in Texas, more than 30 people have been recruited, and there are many flesh-eating survivor organizations in the United States, allowing patients who have been infected to share the experience of escaping death. (Source: Information Times)
Main species
Flesh-eating bacteria are not a single bacterium, but refer to a number of mixed bacteria that cause "necrotizing fasciitis", the most common pathogens of which are Streptococcus pyogenes and Vibrio vulnificus, and other bacteria include staphylococcus, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae and so on. Because these bacteria infect the fascia under the skin and cause inflammation, the clinical course is rapid and severe, and the mortality rate is high, so it is named the scary name of "flesh-eating bacteria".
Infectious disease experts pointed out that in addition to Streptococcus A, Vibrio vulnificus and Vibrio parahaemolyticus are commonly found in seawater. Type A streptococcus mainly enters the human body through wounds or inflamed throats, has a strong reproductive ability in the human body, can quickly produce toxins, erode muscles and body tissues, and make patients disabled, shocked, and even dead, so this bacterium is also called "flesh-eating bacteria". In addition, type A streptococcus can also be a complication of skin diseases
Clinical condition
The early symptoms of flesh-eating bacteria are similar to those of influenza, including fever, muscle aches, sore throats, and so on. As a result, the wound on the patient's skin will become more and more painful, the body temperature will become higher and higher, and the muscles and body tissues will begin to be damaged. Blood pressure may drop, affecting blood circulation and further necrosis of body tissues.
Symptoms may be visible in the epidermis, or they may occur in the dermis layer of the patient with the epidermis intact, redness and swelling at the site of infection, accompanied by bleeding and cortical hardening, and later complications such as diarrhea and fever. The most common are Streptococcus pyogenes and Vibrio vulnificus.
Flesh-eating bacteria do not reproduce by eating meat, mainly through the wound invasion of the subcutaneous fascia, in the infection stage to release toxins to the infected person to destroy the patient's epidermis and muscle tissue, the toxin will trigger the defense mechanism of T lymphocytes, so it will also lead to the patient's local tissue cell proliferation. The symptoms of related diseases caused by these bacteria are collectively referred to as Necrotizing fasciitis. Bacteria can infect any fascial site, and patients must be admitted to the hospital as soon as possible to remove the dead tissue and prescribe antibiotics, otherwise septicaemia and multiple organ failures can be fatal within hours. Therefore, "flesh-eating fungi" is used to describe its horror.
The main hazard
People infected with "flesh-eating bacteria" may not have serious diseases. The patient's skin and fat may only appear called "bee tissue inflammation", the disease is generally mild, but if the condition is delayed, the patient can suffer from "necrotizing fasciitis". The severity of a patient's disease often depends on the individual's constitution, and if his or her immunity is poor, such as liver problems or diabetes, it is prone to more serious infections.
Route of transmission
Carnivorous bacteria are very easy to appear on seafood, and cases involving vibrio are mostly related to seafood. Fishing, diving, or buying seafood at a street market and hurting your hand by seafood can all be infected with flesh-eating bacteria, but among the many routes of infection, eating oysters is the risk. If you accidentally hurt your hand by buying seafood, remember to clean it immediately with a disinfectant and do not dispose of it arbitrarily, as this germ will erode your muscles and in severe cases may kill you within 24 hours.
Major cases
Flesh-eating fungi have killed people in Hong Kong
Within 4 weeks, the Hong Kong Centre for Health Protection (CHP) received 3 cases of necrotizing fasciitis caused by Vibrio vulnificus (also known as flesh-eating fungi), of which 2 died.
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