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Flesh-eating disease strikes twice, killing 2 Tacoma men

Tuesday, December 28, 1999

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

TACOMA -- In recent weeks, two local families have experienced firsthand the horrors of flesh-eating bacteria -- a little-understood disease that health experts say may be on the rise.

Eddy Anderson Jr. thought he was coming down with the flu, so he popped a couple of Tylenols. An emergency room doctor told Tom Chin he had pulled a muscle and recommended rest.

Less than 48 hours later, both Tacoma men were dead, victims of flesh-eating bacteria -- or necrotizing fasciitis.

"It was just unbelievable, how fast he went," said Anderson's wife, Brigitte. "There was nothing we could do."

Although Washington state does not keep track of the numbers of those infected by the disease, the federal Centers for Disease Control estimates 500 to 1,500 cases occur in the nation each year. One in five victims dies.

Cases of the disease were less common prior to 1980, said Michael Curtis, an epidemiologist for the Washington State Department of Health.

"Something about the organism has changed in the last decades, but at this point, what is anyone's guess," Curtis said.

In Washington, about two to three dozen cases a year cause a handful of deaths, state epidemiologist John Kobayashi estimated, adding that the disease is not highly contagious. Health experts say there's no reason to fear an outbreak, and that the Anderson and Chin cases are not related.

The major culprit for the illness is the familiar streptococcus, the bug that usually causes no more than sore throats but that can pop up as scarlet fever and impetigo.

In its most dangerous form, strep penetrates the skin -- usually through a cut or scrape -- and destroys the victim's tissues from within.

The muscles in Anderson's chest were dark brown instead of healthy pink when surgeons at Madigan Army Medical Center began trying to cut away the infected flesh.

"It was essentially dead," said Maj. Matthew Baker, chief surgical resident and part of the team that worked on Anderson for two hours before acknowledging that their task was impossible. "There wasn't really any chance."

It's not known what makes the bacterium so vicious once it penetrates the body's tissues. Theories include a more virulent strain of strep or an ordinary bug taking advantage of a weakened immune system.

Anderson, 62 when he died, had several other health problems that could account for his vulnerability, his wife said. Chin didn't have any of the usual risk factors.

For both, the first sign was a high fever, followed by severe muscle pain that made Chin flinch at the slightest touch and Anderson double over from pain.

Other early warning signs can include an increasingly painful cut or scratch; flulike symptoms, such as diarrhea, dizziness and weakness; and intense thirst -- all without any apparent cause.

According to a fact sheet from the National Necrotizing Fasciitis Foundation, "In general, you will probably feel worse than you've ever felt and not understand why."

If detected early, the disease can be halted by antibiotics and the damaged tissues pared away.

Earlier this year, an 8-year-old Kent boy who cut his leg in a fall from a cherry tree contracted a flesh-eating infection.

The boy's leg was amputated, and he suffered brain and vision damage -- but lived.

Chin and Anderson had no idea their lives were in danger, but knew something was very wrong.

At the Veterans Hospital in Lakewood, doctors were alarmed by Anderson's quick deterioration. A bluish-black rash was spreading over his chest and shoulders, and the pain was so unbearable he was given morphine.

The doctors called for an ambulance and rushed him to Madigan's intensive care unit.

The surgeons began slicing away dead tissue, but found more and more the deeper they cut, eventually removing 40 percent of the muscles on his upper torso. Anderson died the next morning.

At an urgent-care facility, Chin's painful shoulder was diagnosed as a pulled muscle. The doctor gave him pain pills, a sling for his inflamed arm and told him to take three days off from his job as an Immigration and Naturalization Service officer, said Pholly Chin.

The next morning, Tom Chin returned, his legs numb and barely able to walk.

Doctors quickly transferred him to the emergency room at St. Joseph Medical Center.

Pholly Chin was stunned when the staff there told her he was in grave danger.

"They looked at each other and looked and me, and said: 'Your husband is very sick.'"

The next time they spoke with her, it was to tell her he had died.

Experts have few tips to offer on how to avoid the disease. Wash your hands frequently, they advise. Cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze to avoid spreading strep; stay away from people with sore throats, and clean and sterilize even the slightest scratch.

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-- Hokie (va@va.com), December 29, 1999

Answers

Title Correction: Article says bacteria, not virus

-- Hokie (va@va.com), December 29, 1999.

It's worthy to note that there are only a
handfull of virus' that can kill in 48 hrs.
This is a frightening story.

-- spider (spider0@usa.net), December 29, 1999.

Oh bacteria. I don't know of any bacteria that
virulent.

-- spider (spider0@usa.net), December 29, 1999.

Bioweapons my ass. Go talk to anyone who has worked a couple years in a city hospital and you will find they have all seen necrotizing fasciitis. Its alot more common than this story leads you to believe.

-- hamster (hamster@mycage.com), December 29, 1999.

Streptococcus is a bacteria not a virus.

-- Gay Boling (Wilber@montanasky.net), December 29, 1999.

Bioweapon????

Pretty funny!!!

It's real and it's nasty. Be careful when eating crab legs and oysters. NE FL is usually good for one death every year or so from this bacteria.

Deano

-- Deano (deano@luvthebeach.com), December 29, 1999.

Now this is not the kind of thing I want to hear - my 9 year old has strep throat right now.

-- Darlene (boomer@tdstelme.net), December 29, 1999.

In Ohio Cty., Ky and Henderson, KY. both had similar cases of this flesh eating bacteria this past summer. Two deaths in each place. There was no common link between the people. Very scary.

-- Linda A (adahi@muhlon.com), December 29, 1999.

Definitely caused by chemtrails

-- (ER@Dr.Demento), December 29, 1999.

Don't want to scare but if you have anything at all -- GO TO THE DOCTOR! Typed 38 pt's for yesterday for 1 GP. There were 1 walk-in for every scheduled pt. They're doing throat cultures on many, not just rapid strep screens. Epidemic influenza w/varying symptoms. 1 teenager has had strep from 12-1-99 and has now been on 4 antibiotics which are not getting rid of it. For all those w/a high tolerance to pain, now is not the time to ride out the symptoms, please go and have checked out. ER's here are turning multiple pt's away, so go wherever you have to to get treatment.

-- claurann (claurann@aol.com), December 29, 1999.