bloodrayne
11-17-2004, 01:04 PM
CU Physicist's Arm, Shoulder Amputated
BOULDER, Colorado - Nobel Prize-winning physicist Eric Cornell, hospitalized in critical condition because of a flesh-killing bacteria, has undergone surgery to amputate his left arm and shoulder in a fight against the rare necrotizing fasciitis.
The bacteria, which destroys muscles, fat and skin, appear to have been eradicated after six surgeries, his family said in a statement released by the University of Colorado.
"Due to the large wound that Eric has, he will continue to be in critical condition for some time," the statement said. "Eric has recently had brief moments of alertness, but mostly he remains asleep or sedated while his body works on the important job of healing."
A university spokeswoman said she did not know when the amputation took place.
Cornell teaches at Colorado and is a senior scientist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder. He has been in an undisclosed hospital for about two weeks.
He shared the 2001 Nobel with CU professor Carl Wieman and Massachusetts Institute of Technology physicist Wolfgang Ketterle. They were recognized for their work using lasers to chill atoms to a few billionths of a degree above "absolute zero," a temperature that vastly slowed down the movement of atoms, to create a new kind of matter.
Bacteria that cause necrotizing fasciitis are a rare strain of the group A streptococcus bacteria, which causes strep throat. The bacteria produce toxins that destroy tissue, ending in death for about 20 percent of those infected, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
BOULDER, Colorado - Nobel Prize-winning physicist Eric Cornell, hospitalized in critical condition because of a flesh-killing bacteria, has undergone surgery to amputate his left arm and shoulder in a fight against the rare necrotizing fasciitis.
The bacteria, which destroys muscles, fat and skin, appear to have been eradicated after six surgeries, his family said in a statement released by the University of Colorado.
"Due to the large wound that Eric has, he will continue to be in critical condition for some time," the statement said. "Eric has recently had brief moments of alertness, but mostly he remains asleep or sedated while his body works on the important job of healing."
A university spokeswoman said she did not know when the amputation took place.
Cornell teaches at Colorado and is a senior scientist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder. He has been in an undisclosed hospital for about two weeks.
He shared the 2001 Nobel with CU professor Carl Wieman and Massachusetts Institute of Technology physicist Wolfgang Ketterle. They were recognized for their work using lasers to chill atoms to a few billionths of a degree above "absolute zero," a temperature that vastly slowed down the movement of atoms, to create a new kind of matter.
Bacteria that cause necrotizing fasciitis are a rare strain of the group A streptococcus bacteria, which causes strep throat. The bacteria produce toxins that destroy tissue, ending in death for about 20 percent of those infected, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.