FLESH-EATING BACTERIA

Flesh-eating bacteria sounds like something from a bad sci-fi movie.

Some alien life-form would inject the FEB into unsuspecting humans and then wait gleefully for them to be destroyed from within.

Unfortunately, it really does exist.

It's called necrotizing fasciitis, and it ain't pretty.

And the "flesh-eating" is inaccurate - the bacteria causes the destruction of muscle and tissue by release of toxins. Most cases are in people who do have some sort of compromised immune system (diabetes, in this case), and progresses very rapidly without treatment.

The doctors down here were puzzled why my brother's leg inflammation was not going down, and he was transferred to a hospital in Tucson for surgery to drain what they believed were pockets of pus in his leg between the bone and muscle.

That's when they found out it was necrotizing fasciitis.

It's difficult to see him unconscious with a ventilator doing his breathing and about 8 I.V. tubes going both in and out of him -- and it's frustrating to visit someone who has no idea that you are there.

But I'm going on back up early tomorrow (it's an almost three hour drive for me) out of a sense of obligation and also perhaps a chance to help in some way get through to his subconsciousness.

Yeah.

And no pictures with this entry - it's pretty gruesome looking.