This site is no longer active and is available for archival purposes only. Registration and login is disabled.

Sleep Deprived


Postby ingallsj » May 17, 2002 @ 11:52pm

"I am not the one to judge my personality, just the one to make it."
User avatar
ingallsj
pm Member
 
Posts: 783
Joined: Mar 22, 2002 @ 12:05am
Location: JI2U Computer Hardware Consulting


Postby Warren » May 18, 2002 @ 3:39am

I actually live just outside of Boston, in Mendon. I go to Nipmuc Regional High School, in the Mendon-Upton district. I really doubt you know us, even the town next to us has never heard of Mendon, we're soo small. Oh, Paul, Mendon was named after a town in England called Medham, just a tidbit. Oh, and it's Middlesex county, we stole that from you too, lol, Middlesex, how'd you ever come up with such a naughty name :wink:.
Warren
pm Insider
 
Posts: 3140
Joined: Mar 13, 2001 @ 5:49pm


Postby Warren » May 19, 2002 @ 9:00pm

Just finished a report on Necrotizing Fasciitis, the flesh-eating bacteria. 9 pages, such excitement~
Warren
pm Insider
 
Posts: 3140
Joined: Mar 13, 2001 @ 5:49pm


Postby Annoying Snails Master » May 19, 2002 @ 9:06pm

Ohhhhhhh! Post it, Post it! I wanna see!

I have a need to read!
Annoying Snails Master
pm Member
 
Posts: 946
Joined: Apr 23, 2002 @ 1:07am


Postby James S » May 19, 2002 @ 9:47pm

James S
pm Insider
 
Posts: 17064
Joined: Jan 12, 2002 @ 2:33pm
Location: Lexington, KY


Postby Warren » May 19, 2002 @ 10:10pm

OMG MOOSE!! I know what you mean, it's such torture stayin' up all night at a girl's house!



Ok Snails, here it is-

[/color]

Necrotizing fasciitis (neck-row-tize-ing fash-ee-eye-tis), or commonly known as the “flesh-eating bacteria”, is caused by Group A Streptococcus bacteria, the exact same bacteria that causes common strep throat. The pathogen of the bacteria is a toxin that destroys the tissue; the bacteria then ingest the flesh. Group A Streptococcus is a frequent inhabitant of our noses, so it’s a mystery on why in rare cases, it’ll literally eat us. The toxin usually only causes strep throat, but there is a very rare dangerous stand that digests flesh. The cause of this toxin is unknown.
So how do you get the flesh-eating bacteria? Most commonly, the bacteria enter through a cut in the skin. The cut can be anything from a C-section to a paper cut. The bacteria generally commence from someone that carries the bacteria, then from either respiratory droplets (like sneezing or coughing) or direct contact, and having the bacteria land on a lesion. The person with the Group A Streptococcus may not even have any symptoms. Inanimate objects are unlikely to transmit the disease.
Symptoms of the disease vary, but are generally the same. Within 24 hours, the infected cut becomes painful, but does not appear to be infected. The pain may be in the general area of the laceration, or may just be on the same limb. The pain becomes disproportional to the injury, and may feel akin to a muscle pull. Over several days, the pain increases. Flu like symptoms may occur, like diarrhea, nausea, fever, dizziness, weakness, and may include vomiting. In three to four days, the limb or infected area will begin to swell, and may appear like a purplish rash. The limb may begin to have large dark spots that are filled with a blackish fluid. The wound may appear necrotic, becoming flaky, spotted, and different colors. The bacteria focus on eating the fascia, the tissue that holds the muscle to the bone. Within four to five days, blood pressure will drop dramatically, and the body will go into toxic shock from the bacterial toxins, shutting down the organs. Unconsciousness may follow if the body is too weak to fight the infection.
Most people would think that the final symptom would be flesh just falling off the body, but that does not occur. It doesn’t, because the bacteria cause the muscle, skin, and any other soft flesh, to become gangrenous. The streptococcus then feasts on the dead flesh. With leprosy, body parts do fall off, but with necrotizing fasciitis, the infected part of the body appears to be slowly deteriorating away.
So, how do you treat this crippling disease? Antibiotics sometimes to work, but the drug may not be able to reach the infect part because it’s dead. Today, the ONLY way to treat it is to cut and remove the flesh. Only until ALL the bacteria are physically removed will the person be cured. If diagnosis is early enough, which is not common, misdiagnosis is very frequent, because the disease is quite rare, then perhaps only a small portion of skin has to be removed. If the limb can be saved, surgery is easy, because the surgeon can take out the muscle with his hands. It’s pretty gross; the muscle is gray and comes apart like ground beef. If diagnosis is late, amputation may be required. This is much more complex for people who have the infection on their bodies, and not on a limb. Sometimes organs have to be removed, and quite often, the victim will lose feeling in parts of their body. If the patient has the infection on the head, amputation of the head usually results in death, so death is nearly guaranteed, unless diagnosis is very early. People with the disease are not usually contagious.
Survival rate is 80%, which is very good, but the aftermath of the surgery can be devastating. It can range from a little scar, to actual Frankenstein-type scars, to amputation of limbs.
Prevention of necrotizing fasciitis is quite simple, but if someone goes out of their way to prevent the flesh-eating bacteria, then they are way obsessively paranoid! 15%-30% of the population is carrying Strep A at any given time, but it’s rare for it to emit the dangerous strand of toxin. The best way to prevent it is to wash cuts with antibacterial soap. Each year, according to the CDC, there are about 500 to 1,500 cases of necrotizing fasciitis in the US, that’s 0.0003%. It’s not anymore common anywhere else in the world.
Historically, the flesh-eating bacteria have been sensationalized by the press, and causing people to think there is an outbreak. Theoretically, there can be an outbreak, but I don’t think you have to worry about that. The most famous person to get the disease was Jim Henson, the creator of the Muppets. He had received a small cut on his finger, and it developed an infection. He thought nothing of it, so he didn’t do anything. The infection spread, and began eating away that the tissues under the skin up his arm. The pain must have been unbearable so he went to the doctors, but the doctors thought he had pneumonia. Finally, the doctors realized he had necrotizing fasciitis, but it was too late, he died shortly after.
As for geographical isolation of the disease, there are no borders for it, it can happen anywhere. Whenever the press sensationalizes a case of the flesh-eating bacteria, it can scare people causing public health issues. In 1990, a British newspaper wrote on the front page, “Killer Bugs Eating My Face!” This was a story about someone that had the disease in their face. People thought there was an outbreak, and caused mass chaos.
Here are some real life stories from survivors of the disease, they are quite graphic, but you’re a biology teacher, you can take it! The first is about Donna. She had been out skiing with some friends on vacation, and one day she just felt ill. She had a small cut on her right hand, but thought nothing of it. When she got back home, she was seriously ill, and went to the hospital. The doctors diagnosed necrotizing fasciitis, and she had 4 out of 5 of her fingers on her right hand amputated. No, the remaining finger was not her middle finger, it was her pinky. The next story is a lot grosser. It is about 28-year-old Jackie in November 1993. She had just given birth to twins with a C-section. Because she had twins, her body had to expand to accommodate the babies. After the C-section, she got ventral incisonal hernias. The muscles in her stomach had split open, and she needed surgery to fix it. She received the surgery, but soon afterwards, she didn’t feel well. She had a bag attached to her for fluid drainage. After about a week, she got the bandages removed. The next week, the C-section line became swollen and filled with liquids. She went to the doctor, and he made her sit on a table. He made a small incision in the abdomen, and to their horror, a bloody-orange thick fluid gushed out of the hole, splashing the doctor. He packed the hole with gauze, and told her to keep packing it and put her on antibiotics. As time went on, the fluid turned to a yellowish syrupy liquid. The incision the doctor made was not healing, and another hole was making itself next to it! Several other holes started appearing, some an inch in diameter. Over the next few weeks, she had extreme pain in her spine, caused by systemic toxicity. She went to a different doctor (her usual doctor went to Puerto Rico on vacation), and he said, “She has no infection. She has the flu”. Obviously that doctor was very stupid, he took little concern of the swelling and the holes on her stomach. Later that day, she pulled some gauze out of a deep tunnel out of her left thigh, but the color was green and yellow tinged with blood, and oozing pus. The holes on her stomach also started oozing pus, and turned dark purple. Then, immediately, she went to a large hospital in Connecticut, and the doctors diagnosed necrotizing fasciitis immediately. They put her on antibiotics, but it didn’t do much. They did a CAT scan of her abdomen, and discovered that all the holes in her stomach were connected under the skin, and that the hole in her thigh was six inches deep. Then, one day, a nurse took off Jackie’s hospital skirt, and a chunk of gangrenous flesh came off in her hand (yeah, pretty gross). The nurse got the doctor, and she went into surgery without delay. The doctors started to pull away the flesh inside her thigh, which was gray and bloodless. They continued up the leg, into the abdomen, until all the bacteria-infected flesh was gone. Fortunately, it was successful in curing the disease, but the physical outcome was devastating. Her left leg was completely mutated with giant scars, her abdomen bugled and protruded in weird shapes and areas, and she had no feeling in the pubic area. Before the disease, she had modeled as Marilyn Monroe, but now she was deformed. She got a girdle for her hip to make it look even though. Even though necrotizing fasciitis had permanently disfigured her body, she was glad to be alive. No one ever imagined that she would survive it.
The last story will be about Bo. She was 30, and playing soccer with some friends. She was kicked in the left ankle by accident, but no real injury resulted. In about three days, she became extremely ill, and went to the hospital. The doctors didn’t know what was wrong, so they sent her to a larger hospital. There, they diagnosed necrotizing fasciitis right away, but the disease had spread extremely fast, and was already at her knee (the bacteria can eat up to one inch of leg or arm an hour!). Within a few days, it was at her hip, and the skin was being completely eaten away. You could see the bones and muscles in her calf. The doctors tried to put her on super antibiotics to save her leg, but with little success. They did, however, prevent the bacteria from reaching her body from the leg. During this whole time, she was unconscious from toxic shock syndrome. Over the next few days, the bacteria ate away at her leg; between the knee and ankle were only two bones, that’s it, no skin, no muscle. The thigh was meaty with red muscles, but had patches of gray gangrenous tissue on it too. The doctors had no choice but to amputate. They did, and it was completely successful. Bo was so thrilled that she survived, she didn’t care that she had lost a leg. She got a prosthetic leg to replace it. Today, four years after the incident, she’s mountain biking again, and couldn’t be happier.
Necrotizing fasciitis is probably one of the worst diseases to get in the world. At least with leprosy your limbs are numb. With the flesh-eating bacteria, you feel it eating you. Even though it is a rare disease, you are still ten times more likely to get this disease than be struck by lightning. The symptoms are clear, excruciating pain more serious than it should be for an injury or cut, and gangrenous flesh. The best treatment is to catch it early. Overall, the flesh-eating bacteria is one of the extremes of illnesses in the world, yet should be treated with respect and knowledge. The flesh-eating bacteria, beware, it’ll eat you alive...
Warren
pm Insider
 
Posts: 3140
Joined: Mar 13, 2001 @ 5:49pm


Postby benkenobi0 » May 19, 2002 @ 10:11pm

oooooh longness
benkenobi0
pm Insider
 
Posts: 1278
Joined: Apr 11, 2002 @ 2:15am


Postby Jadam » May 19, 2002 @ 10:20pm

you misspelled strand as stand...
nice essay though, read the whole thing...
User avatar
Jadam
I'm a STAR!
 
Posts: 3245
Joined: Apr 9, 2002 @ 7:24pm
Location: Stony Brook, NY


Postby Paul » May 19, 2002 @ 10:23pm

hmm... reads more like a story than an essay. a narrative. um.... battlefield earth sucks majo ass by the way.
Paul
pm Insider
 
Posts: 9835
Joined: Apr 2, 2001 @ 3:15pm
Location: California


Postby Jadam » May 19, 2002 @ 11:32pm

yeah, it does read like a story. Battlefield earth did suck!
User avatar
Jadam
I'm a STAR!
 
Posts: 3245
Joined: Apr 9, 2002 @ 7:24pm
Location: Stony Brook, NY


Postby BurningSheep » May 19, 2002 @ 11:38pm

8O

Interesting stuff there Warren, I like your writing style :)

Let us know what your teacher thinks of it

btw. maybe you need to put a disclaimer in front of your post something like

"The information provided here is for educational purposes only, and should not be considered as offering medical advice. I assume no responsibility for how this material is used. I recommend to check with a physician if some physical symptoms appear. If you have any hypochondriac tendencies please refrain from reading any further."
Do you want custom Snails levels? Click
User avatar
BurningSheep
pm Insider
 
Posts: 1226
Joined: Apr 12, 2002 @ 11:49pm
Location: The Netherlands


Postby Paul » May 19, 2002 @ 11:45pm

i dunno.... i dont like it when people write that way. putting in little 'jokes' and such. well, if your teacher is okay with that then fine, i dunno...
Paul
pm Insider
 
Posts: 9835
Joined: Apr 2, 2001 @ 3:15pm
Location: California


Postby Warren » May 20, 2002 @ 12:20am

I write that way for non-super formal papers, like for Biology. For English class, you can't write anything like that, you have to be super serious.

Yeah, I should have at least put "Reader Discretion Advised" before it, lol.

Oh, and if copy it, it's plagerism!

Yes, Battlefield Earth sucked.

"amputation of the head usually results in death" lol! That'll crack the teacher up!
Warren
pm Insider
 
Posts: 3140
Joined: Mar 13, 2001 @ 5:49pm


Postby Paul » May 20, 2002 @ 12:34am

dont tell me, you're an adam sandler fan?
Paul
pm Insider
 
Posts: 9835
Joined: Apr 2, 2001 @ 3:15pm
Location: California


Postby accolon » May 20, 2002 @ 12:46am

Great report, Warren. :)

My leg hurts...
<div align="center">
<b>while (!asleep()) sheep++;
</b></div>
User avatar
accolon
pm Member
 
Posts: 628
Joined: Jan 20, 2002 @ 10:25pm
Location: Germany


PreviousNext

Return to Anything Discussion


Sort


Forum Description

Post all off-topic messages here, almost anything goes.

Moderators:

Dan East, sponge, David Horn, Kevin Gelso, RICoder

Forum permissions

You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum