HereWeGoAgain
Diamond Member
Necrotizing fasciatis is not contagious at all. A cut isn't even necessary. No one knows how it is contracted. There is no antibiotic that is useful.
I know. My husband died of it and I took care of him. In the times he was in the hospital he was never under contagion protocols.
It started out as a rash about the size of a quarter and grew at the rate of half an inch an hour. We didn't know what it was. That afternoon we went to the emergency room. After examination, the doctors sent for an expert and we waited until the expert arrived.
The doctor performed an immediate surgery to remove the necrotizing flesh. The surgical site was so large it used a vacuum dressing. Blood, pus and liquid was sucked out into a chamber that had to be emptied every couple of hours and dumped down the toilet. None of the home health aids knew how to change this dressing. I went to the hospital and got trained. No contagion protocols.
Right before surgery we were told that survival expectations were a bit less than 50%. That was in October. He died December 10th.
Did he have diabetes, undergoing chemo or anything like that? Seems like an outlying situation even within the rarity of this illness.
While having a weak immune system makes your chances of catching it greater,it's not always the case.
I've cut myself wade fishing oyster reefs dozens of times over the years.
And I am walking around with two big old holes in the bottom of one of my feet after stepping on some rusty nails. People are always being exposed to stuff which is why I asked if there was something else going on there.
Have you had a tetanus shot recently?
Because that has nothing to do with flesh eating bacteria.
Tetnus is not caused by rusty nails but a bacteria in dirt. It is treatable and survivable at even advanced stages. That said, yes. The shots are good for at least 10 years (probably longer in adults) and I had one 3.5 years ago.
All these years of being told it's caused by rusty nails and really it's just like it's a dirty needle.