Necrotizing Skin Infection: Causes, Symptoms and Treatment

Causes, incidence, and risk factors

Necrotizing subcutaneous infection or fasciitis can be caused by a variety of bacteria including oxygen-using bacteria or oxygen-avoiding bacteria. A very severe and usually fatal fasciitis is caused by a deadly species of streptococcus called "flesh-eating bacteria" by the press.

This type of infection develops when bacteria enter the body, usually through a minor skin injury or abrasion. The bacteria begin to grow and release toxins that:

Directly kill tissue

Interfere with the blood flow to the tissue

Digest materials in the tissue, which rapidly spreads the bacteria

Cause widespread effects, such as shock

Infection may begin as a small reddish painful spot or bump on the skin. This quickly changes to a painful bronzed or purplish patch that expands rapidly. The center may become black and dead The skin may break open. Visible expansion of the infection may occur in less than an hour.

Symptoms of Necrotizing

Symptoms often begin just as for cellulitis. The skin may look pale at first, but quickly becomes red or bronze and warm to the touch, and sometimes becomes swollen. Later, the skin turns violet, often with the development of large fluid-filled blisters (bullae). The fluid from these blisters is brown, watery, and sometimes fouls smelling. Areas of dead skin (gangrene) turn black. Some types of infection, including those produced by Clostridia and mixed bacteria, produce gas The gas creates bubbles under the skin and sometimes in the blisters themselves, causing the skin to feel crackly when pushed. Initially the infected area is painful, but as the skin dies, the nerves stop producing and the area loses sensation.

The person usually feels very ill and has a fever, a rapid heart rate, and mental deterioration ranging from confusion to unconsciousness. Blood pressure may fall because of toxins secreted by the bacteria and the body's response to the infection (septic shock

A doctor makes a diagnosis of necrotizing skin infection based on its appearance, particularly the presence of gas bubbles under the skin. X-rays may show gas under the skin as well. The specific bacteria involved are identified by laboratory analysis of infected fluid and tissue samples. However, treatment must begin before a doctor can be certain which bacteria are causing the infection.

Treatment for Necrotizing

Antibiotic therapy

Surgical removal of the dead tissue

Large amounts of skin, tissue, and muscle must often be removed, and in some cases, an affected arm or leg may have to be amputated. People with necrotizing infections caused by anaerobic bacteria

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