A 65-year-old woman almost died after a cat scratch wound became severely infected with a deadly-flesh eating bug.
According to Daily Mail, Shirley Hair from England bought a Siamese cat in July 2016 for £400 (RM2149). She said that he was adorable as a kitten but as he got older, he got more aggressive and often left her with bites and scratches.
In April 2018, Shirley said she tried picking the cat up for a cuddle, but he lashed out at her and wounded the back of her hand.
Source: Daily Mail
She then started experiencing dizziness, loss of appetite, and muscle aches and thought that she just had the flu. However, her wound suddenly became inflamed and turned bright red and had spread from her hand up her arm.
She rushed to the hospital where she was diagnosed with sepsis, septic shock, organ failure, pneumonia and Necrotising fasciitis (NF) – a flesh-eating disease which results in the death of parts of the body’s soft tissue which can prove fatal.
Source: Daily Mail
No, that is NOT halloween makeup.
An emergency surgery was done to remove the infected tissue from her hand before Shirley was placed in a medically-induced coma to allow her body to rest.
Doctors said that Shirley’s illness was caused by the cat scratch which had exposed her body to the flesh-eating bug.
Source: Daily Mail
A few days after her initial operation, Shirley’s hand still wasn’t improving. In fact, she suffered two heart attacks after another operation to remove the infection on 18th April.
Doctors were then forced to sedate and ventilate her in order to stabilise her condition and kept her in the ICU for almost a month before she began to show signs of improvement.
Once she was well enough, doctors performed a skin graft from the top of her leg in order to cover the ‘gaping wound’ on her arm, which was so deep that her tendons were exposed.
Source: Daily Mail
A vac pump – a machine which decreases air pressure on the wound – was fitted in order to help the skin tissue grow, and she was given multiple physiotherapy sessions to regain movement.
After more than eight operations and two months in hospital Shirley is now home and well with her hand “almost as good as it was”. Meanwhile, her Siamese cat has been re-homed.
OMG, I didn’t know that just a cat scratch could result in a life-threatening disease! Shirley surely was lucky that the disease did not take her life.
Also read: 4yo Boy Who Had Fever, Rash and Leg Pain Turns Into ‘Sepsis’ That Almost Takes His Life
