FLESH EATING DISEASE
DEFINITION |
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Flesh-eating disease is more properly called
necrotizing fasciitis, a rare condition in which bacteria destroy
tissues underlying the skin. This tissue death, called necrosis or
gangrene, spreads rapidly. This disease can be fatal. |
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Although the term is technically incorrect, flesh-eating disease is
an apt descriptor: the infection appears to devour body tissue.
Media reports increased in the mid-1990s, but the disease is not new.
Hippocrates described it more than three millennia ago and thousands
of reports exist from the Civil War.
Flesh-eating disease is divided into two types. Type I is caused by
anaerobic bacteria, with or without the presence of aerobic
bacteria. Type II, also called hemolytic streptococcal gangrene, is
caused by group A streptococci; other bacteria may or may not be
present. The disease may also be called synergistic gangrene, among
other terms.
The arms and legs are most often affected, but the infection may
appear anywhere. For example, Fournier's gangrene is flesh-eating
disease in which the infection encompasses the external genitalia. |
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| FLESH EATING DISEASE RELATED ITEMS |
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