bloodrayne
05-04-2004, 07:54 PM
Flesh-eating disease kills patient
From correspondents in Ottawa
A WOMAN has died and another patient is listed in serious condition following a new outbreak of so-called "flesh-eating disease" in Canada.
Both patients were treated at St Joseph's Hospital in Saint John, New Brunswick, where the surviving patient remained in serious condition today with necrotising fasciitis, hospital officials said.
A 37-year-old woman and another patient were discharged from the hospital after undergoing surgery last week, the hospital said. They were both subsequently rushed back to hospital and kept in isolation.
Hospital authorities said some hospital workers and others who might have been in contact with the two had been given antibiotics in the hope of stopping the disease from spreading.
Mecrotising fasciitis begins with streptococcus A bacteria. Most who are exposed to the bacteria don't get sick and even among those who do become ill, very few get flesh-eating disease. The disease however strikes rapidly and is frequently fatal.
In 1994, former federal cabinet minister Lucien Bouchard, then premier of Quebec, lost a leg when he was struck with necrotising fasciitis.
The spokesman at St John's Hospital said it was not yet known how or why the latest outbreak occurred.
From correspondents in Ottawa
A WOMAN has died and another patient is listed in serious condition following a new outbreak of so-called "flesh-eating disease" in Canada.
Both patients were treated at St Joseph's Hospital in Saint John, New Brunswick, where the surviving patient remained in serious condition today with necrotising fasciitis, hospital officials said.
A 37-year-old woman and another patient were discharged from the hospital after undergoing surgery last week, the hospital said. They were both subsequently rushed back to hospital and kept in isolation.
Hospital authorities said some hospital workers and others who might have been in contact with the two had been given antibiotics in the hope of stopping the disease from spreading.
Mecrotising fasciitis begins with streptococcus A bacteria. Most who are exposed to the bacteria don't get sick and even among those who do become ill, very few get flesh-eating disease. The disease however strikes rapidly and is frequently fatal.
In 1994, former federal cabinet minister Lucien Bouchard, then premier of Quebec, lost a leg when he was struck with necrotising fasciitis.
The spokesman at St John's Hospital said it was not yet known how or why the latest outbreak occurred.