A mum almost lost her arm – after catching a flesh-eating bug from her local nail salon.
Jayne Sharp, from Tennessee in the US, was forced to undergo a string of operations to remove large chunks from her hand after they were destroyed by the infection.
Jayne first suspected something was wrong after she was cut on her right thumb while getting a manicure at Jazzy Nail Bar in Knoxville.
She said: “While I was there I got stuck on my thumb and I went ‘ouch’ but I went back to looking at my telephone.”
Jayne’s thumb soon began to throb and she fell so ill that she was unable to sleep that night.
Concerned, Jayne went to her local medical centre to be checked over, thinking she was suffering flu.
However, when the flu test came back negative, one of the nurses spotted Jayne’s thumb was abnormally swollen and drew a line around a spot on it.
Jayne said: “The flu test came back negative and they said ‘I think you may be getting the symptoms from your thumb’.”
Doctors told her to monitor the spot in case the swelling got worse.
Jayne rushed back to the hospital the next day when she noticed the swelling had spread up her right arm and she’d also developed a rash.
Dr Udit Chaudhuri, who treated Jayne, said: “She could have lost her finger or her arm if she hadn’t been diagnosed properly.”
He also explained that flesh-eating disease, known medically as necrotising fasciitis, can be contracted through an open cut or wound.
You can read the full story here.
DISCLAIMER
We at The Lee Spark NF Foundation (including our professional network); do not support any advertising found in these links. The wording used, though helpful in raising awareness of necrotising fasciitis, is used in a publication media manner and is not produced by our charity.