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Alaska Man Battling Flesh-Eating Disease

He may lose arm to infection caused by splinter

By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff

Posted Jul 5, 2012 3:25 AM CDT

(Newser) – Another case of the rare flesh-eating infection necrotizing fasciitis has surfaced, this time in Alaska. Juneau man Ruben Pereyra was flown to a hospital in Seattle where he has been fighting the infection for two weeks, the Juneau Empire reports. He is in stable condition but may lose an arm. The infection occurs when the skin is broken and a naturally occurring bacteria enters the body—Pereyra's case was caused by a splinter. Aimee Copeland, the college student in Georgia who lost her left leg, right foot, and both hands to the disease, headed to a rehab clinic earlier this week after nearly two months in the hospital.

Perayra is being treated in Seattle's Harborview Medical Center.
Perayra is being treated in Seattle's Harborview Medical Center.   (Vmenkov/Wikipedia)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 12 comments
Bulls-Eye
Aug 1, 2012 5:52 PM CDT
How terribly sad their doctors did not know about a cheap, simple cure. http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2012/07/28/peninsula-woman-saved-from-flesh-eating-bacteria/ This treatment was approved by the FDA years ago.  I have owned stock in the inventing company since 2005 and they just do not get any traction.  How sad people lose arms and legs because we don't have a good medical information sharing system.
right2dave
Jul 5, 2012 7:22 AM CDT
Seems to be a lot of this going around these days.
Nerdbomb
Jul 5, 2012 4:25 AM CDT
Scary to read the headline of this with my state in the title. Even more scary to open it up and read that it happened in my exact city. Halp me.
 

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