titantoo
07-13-2005, 04:05 AM
Inmate infected with flesh-eating disease
By Louise Hoffman Broach / The Citizen
Tuesday, July 12, 2005 10:29 AM EDT
AUBURN - State health officials from Albany are meeting today with Auburn Correctional Facility corrections officers and inmates to allay their fears about a severe strep infection that has hospitalized one inmate.
The inmate, who works in the prison's plate shop, was diagnosed with necrotizing fasciitis, an infection caused commonly by group A strep bacteria. Although rare and difficult to transmit, the illness can potentially be fatal.
Jim Flateau, spokesman for the state Department of Correctional Services, said the illness is serious, but not contagious. He said in 15 years, he knows of three cases of necrotizing fasciitis that occurred in the state prison system.
Flateau said he is prohibited by law from identifying the inmate who has the illness. The inmate was taken to Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse, where he remains receiving treatment.
No one else has become ill as a result of the ACF occurrence of the disease, commonly known as flesh-eating bacteria.
Larry Flannigan, president of the New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association, said the union has a health specialist, and that person was likely consulted. Apparently, several members of the union raised concerns with corrections officials about what has been characterized as minimal information prison medical staff first provided about the illness.
Flateau would not comment about the initial information, but said officials at today's meeting should have adequate data to share with corrections officers who had come into contact with the infected inmate, as well as inmates who had contact with him.
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, severe, sometimes life-threatening, group A streptococcus disease may occur when bacteria get into parts of the body where bacteria usually are not found, such as the blood, muscle or the lungs. These infections are termed "invasive GAS disease."
One of the most severe, but least common, forms of GAS is necrotizing fasciitis. The illness - which has a fast onset and symptoms that start as limb pain and the flu and become increasingly severe - destroys muscles, fat and skin tissue. About 20 percent of patients with necrotizing fasciitis die.
The disease is rare and is carried by the same bacteria that causes strep throat. It is most commonly transferred by respiratory droplets or direct contact. Most bacteria enter the body through an opening in the skin, quite often a minor opening such as a paper cut.
The CDC indicates few people who come in contact with GAS will develop invasive GAS disease. Most people will have a throat or skin infection, and some may have no symptoms at all. Although healthy people can get invasive GAS disease, people with chronic illnesses like cancer, diabetes, and kidney dialysis, and those who use medications such as steroids have a higher risk.
According to the CDC, there were about 9,000 cases of the invasive disease in 2002. More than 10 million noninvasive GAS infections occur annually.
Staff writer Louise Hoffman Broach can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 238 or louise.hoffman@lee.net
By Louise Hoffman Broach / The Citizen
Tuesday, July 12, 2005 10:29 AM EDT
AUBURN - State health officials from Albany are meeting today with Auburn Correctional Facility corrections officers and inmates to allay their fears about a severe strep infection that has hospitalized one inmate.
The inmate, who works in the prison's plate shop, was diagnosed with necrotizing fasciitis, an infection caused commonly by group A strep bacteria. Although rare and difficult to transmit, the illness can potentially be fatal.
Jim Flateau, spokesman for the state Department of Correctional Services, said the illness is serious, but not contagious. He said in 15 years, he knows of three cases of necrotizing fasciitis that occurred in the state prison system.
Flateau said he is prohibited by law from identifying the inmate who has the illness. The inmate was taken to Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse, where he remains receiving treatment.
No one else has become ill as a result of the ACF occurrence of the disease, commonly known as flesh-eating bacteria.
Larry Flannigan, president of the New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association, said the union has a health specialist, and that person was likely consulted. Apparently, several members of the union raised concerns with corrections officials about what has been characterized as minimal information prison medical staff first provided about the illness.
Flateau would not comment about the initial information, but said officials at today's meeting should have adequate data to share with corrections officers who had come into contact with the infected inmate, as well as inmates who had contact with him.
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, severe, sometimes life-threatening, group A streptococcus disease may occur when bacteria get into parts of the body where bacteria usually are not found, such as the blood, muscle or the lungs. These infections are termed "invasive GAS disease."
One of the most severe, but least common, forms of GAS is necrotizing fasciitis. The illness - which has a fast onset and symptoms that start as limb pain and the flu and become increasingly severe - destroys muscles, fat and skin tissue. About 20 percent of patients with necrotizing fasciitis die.
The disease is rare and is carried by the same bacteria that causes strep throat. It is most commonly transferred by respiratory droplets or direct contact. Most bacteria enter the body through an opening in the skin, quite often a minor opening such as a paper cut.
The CDC indicates few people who come in contact with GAS will develop invasive GAS disease. Most people will have a throat or skin infection, and some may have no symptoms at all. Although healthy people can get invasive GAS disease, people with chronic illnesses like cancer, diabetes, and kidney dialysis, and those who use medications such as steroids have a higher risk.
According to the CDC, there were about 9,000 cases of the invasive disease in 2002. More than 10 million noninvasive GAS infections occur annually.
Staff writer Louise Hoffman Broach can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 238 or louise.hoffman@lee.net