| A Calhoun woman is in the Pittsburgh Burn Center diagnosed with what
some health officials are calling Necrotizing Fasciitis, a bacterial disease
often associated with Group A Streptococcus. The official confirmation of
the disease has not been made, with the Center for Disease Control being
contacted in Atlanta.
The disease, if validated, attacks the subcutaneous soft tissue of the body,
rapidly spreading. Tissue becomes gangrenous and has to be surgically
removed. Massive doses of antibiotics are used to treat the problem.
It is not an air- borne disease, and needs direct contact to be
contagious.
The Calhoun woman's condition was described as guarded in the Pittsburgh Burn Center, by a
family spokesperson, who said they have been told it is "a flesh eating
disease." Her arm has been amputated and her kidneys are failing.
The Director of the Division of Surveillance and Disease Control in Charleston, Loretta Haddy
will be releasing a statement regarding the disease, which some health
workers say is minimally contagious if precautions are taken.
Barb Lay, CEO of Minnie Hamilton Health Care Center, said the local center's
staff is carefully following the incident. Lay said diseases are often recorded
in locations where the actual diagnosis is made, in this case Pittsburgh,
even though the person may be local.
Family members have been at her bedside. "It will be a miracle if she
survives," they said.
Numerous reports regarding the situation surfaced in the community last
week.
The disease is not new, maintaining a relatively low-level presence in
America for several years with scattered "out breaks."
The woman, who is 61- years-old, last worked as a foster grandparent at
Calhoun's Head Start program in Grantsville on March 28. A Head Start
worker said the woman was not "experiencing any symptoms and was
perfectly healthy." The worker said the victim stated she had been
scratched by a dog several days ago.
She sought medical treatment at Minnie Hamilton Health Care Center three
days later, at which time she was referred to a Parkersburg hospital, then
transferred to the Pittsburgh Burn Center.
Head Start has twenty children enrolled in their program. They were notified
by health care workers from Pittsburgh the disease was "not in a contagious
stage while the woman was working there."
Updates will follow.
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