Grandmother dies from flesh-eating bacteria weeks after cutting herself at beach
A grandmother has died after suffering two strokes and organ failure during surgeries to save her leg from flesh-eating bacteria.
Carolyn Fleming, 77, passed away on June 27 two weeks after cutting her leg in the ocean at Anna Maria Island’s Coquina Beach in the US state of Florida.
Ms Fleming scratched her leg when she fell into a small dip on June 14, her son and daughter-in-law, Wade and Traci Fleming told NBC News.
They had travelled with their two children Jonathan and Jensen from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to visit Ms Fleming in Florida for a week.
Ms Fleming exited the water on Friday with a two-centimetre cut and bump on her shin which grew worse in pain and appearance as the weekend went on.
Her son and his family left Florida on Saturday, but she continued to decline.
By Sunday, her leg was red and swollen, and friends encouraged her to seek treatment at an urgent care facility, where she was given a tetanus shot and antibiotic.
On Monday, her left shin had turned black and her friends found her barely conscious on the floor of her bedroom so called an ambulance.
After being hospitalised, she was diagnosed with necrotising fasciitis, a life-threatening infection characterised by flesh-eating bacteria.
Her body turned septic and soon after, doctors called on hospice care.
Traci and Wade returned to Florida to be with Ms Fleming in her final days.
“Lynn passed peacefully in her sleep today with Wade holding her hand. We are thankful for all of your thoughts and prayers,” her daughter-in-law wrote in a Facebook post the day she died.
Wade told NBC News the outcome could have been far different had the family known about the deadly effects of the infection.
"I think that if we had the knowledge prior to this, we would have treated everything different," he said.
"My mother would be here, giving you an interview instead of me."
Traci said it was ironic her mother-in-law had always wanted to live by the beach, but it ended up being what killed her.
Her death comes after Kylei Parker, 12, was nearly killed by the same infection after swimming at a beach in Destin, Florida, with an open wound.
What is necrotising fasciitis?
Necrotising fasciitis is caused when water bacteria enters the body through an open wound or small cut, then rapidly kills flesh and muscle.
Kylei believes the infection must have came through a graze on a toe she nicked while skateboarding.
An Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report confirmed about 400 cases of necrotising fasciitis are diagnosed in Australian hospitals each year.
Most cases of necrotising fasciitis in Australia are picked up locally, not overseas, SBS reported.
The flesh-eating infection is commonly caused by group A Streptococcus (GAS) bacteria, which is the same bug that causes strep throat.
Earlier this year, a Sydney dad was left a quadriplegic and requiring life-saving surgery after what he thought was nerve pain turned out to be Strep A flesh-eating bacteria.
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