This is scary...

Flesh-eating bacteria kill nurse assistant


DUNN - N.C. health officials are investigating the death of a Harnett County woman who died of a flesh-eating bacteria three days after accidentally jamming her hand in a wheelchair while working at a nursing home.

Nursing assistant Sharon Bishop, 44, died Feb. 27. A doctor said a rare flesh-eating bacteria may have entered her body through a thumb injury, turning her from healthy to fatally ill.

The culprit was an uncommon, invasive form of group A streptococcal bacteria, said Debbie Crane, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Health and Human Services. The noninvasive form is widespread and is commonly known for causing strep throat, she said.

"It's kind of like getting bitten by a shark or struck by lightning," she said of the rare bacteria. "It's not something that spreads to the community."
North Carolina gets about 125 reports of the invasive form of strep annually, and about 10 percent are fatal, she said.

David Bishop said doctors at UNC Hospitals, where Sharon Bishop died, have told him his wife "could have picked (the bacteria) up at the gas station, at the grocery store, anywhere."

-Associated Press, Fri, Mar. 10, 2006
[Edited 3/11/06 12:19pm]

DAMN!

Shit like that is EXACTLY why I use hand sanitizer at work. And they look at me like i'm crazy for it. All that money and shopping carts and door handles and shit that I touch.

DynamicSavior said:

Once you use that hand sanitizer a certain amount of times it will no longer be effective for you. Less is more.

lovemachine said:

I'm not obsessive with it. I wash my hands too. THAT i'm obsessive about. I HAVE to have clean hands.

Eeeeesh!

DynamicSavior said:

me too....especially when I get into bed at night or touch certain personal items.

lovemachine said:

People tell me that all the time. I do it out of habit though.

AnckSuNamun said:

I know that's right. Because people are SO fucking nasty and I get handed the most raggedyest filthiest dirtiest money...and people ALWAYS wanna touch my hair or something. I HATE THAT SHIT!! I don't like to be touched.

DynamicSavior said:

my roommate never washes her hands.... never! She'll take a piss and come out without even looking at the sink. I know this because of the way our bathroom is set up. The shower and toilet is separated from the sink mirror area. She's a nursing major too She should be the most germ cautious, I'd think. Right before I left for Spring Break, I heard her and some boy having sex in the shower. I'm willing to bet a million dollars that she didn't clean the shower out afterwards. Nasty ass. Even if she does clean it out, that's still disrespectful knowing someone else uses that shower. That's why I wear fuckin' flip flops.....in the shower. I personally thought that sounded a little crazy, but considering who I have to share a bathroom with....maybe it's not afterall. I'm telling her off when I get back down there since I didn't get a chance to do it before I came home. We're having a house meeting next week, when everyone's there to get on her about being so fuckin' nasty. The other girls who live there are complaining about her too....cooking on the stove and leaving dried spagetti sauce and shit all over it. I swear it's been there for about two months. We were just waitin' to see how long it's gonna take before she does something about herself. Stuff like this makes me never ever want a roommate again. I've had my share

area
[Edited 3/11/06 13:26pm]

AnckSuNamun said:

Shit like that is EXACTLY why I live by my damn self.

AnckSuNamun said:

I have a roommate pretty much like that right now. She apparently is either too lazy or too stupid to know how to WASH her fucking dishes, so the other day my other roommate and I took all of her mold-encrusted dishes out of our sink & put them in a trashbag underneath the sink.

Sad thing is, she'll probably just throw them away at the end of the year.

evenstar3 said:

That reminds me of something me and my best friend did when we were like 12 or so. There were all these pots and pans in the sink and I was helping him wash the dishes and he didn't feel like washing the pots so he filled them up with water and tried to hide them in the oven. When his mom opened the oven later on and was like "CHAD, WTF!:!!?!?" and he was like "I wasn't hiding them! I was letting them soak!" He got his ass whooped anyway for lying and not washing all the dishes

Don't diss Prince like that.

oh sh*t, now i'm scratching.

I've heard of this sort of thing before... but from healthy to D.E.A.D. in three days!?!? That's some George Romero stuff.

And she could have casually picked up the bacteria anywhere? ARRRRRGGH!!!

I read this the other day, it's been on my mind since Here's a longer article - TRIPPY how they describe how fast it happened!!


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11752394


Flesh-eating germ kills woman in three days
North Carolina nursing assistant cut her finger on a wheelchair

The Associated Press
Updated: 9:09 p.m. ET March 9, 2006


DUNN, N.C. - North Carolina health officials are investigating the death of a woman who died last week of a flesh-eating bacteria three days after accidentally jamming her hand in a wheelchair while working at a nursing home.

Nursing assistant Sharron Bishop, 44, died Feb. 27. A doctor said a rare flesh-eating bacteria may have entered her body through a thumb injury and she turned from healthy to fatally ill.

The culprit was a rare invasive form of group A streptococcal bacteria, said Debbie Crane, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Health and Human Services. The noninvasive form is widespread and is commonly known for causing strep throat, she said.

"It's kind of like getting bitten by a shark or struck by lightning," she said. "It's not something that spreads to the community."

North Carolina gets about 125 reports of the invasive form of strep annually, and about 10 percent are fatal, she said.

David Bishop said doctors at UNC Hospitals, where Sharron Bishop died, have told him it's impossible to know how his wife contracted the rare infection.

"The UNC doctors said she could have picked it up at the gas station, at the grocery store, anywhere," he said. "We will never know."

Sharon Bishop complained on Feb. 24 about a swollen thumb. She had jammed it at work and worried that she had dislocated it. David Bishop took her to Betsy Johnson Regional Hospital, where doctors gave her pain medication and sent her home.

The swelling got worse. By the morning of Feb. 27, her arm was twice as large as normal and looked like it would burst, David Bishop said. Fluid leaked from her elbow and wrist. She complained of terrific pain.

Dunn physician Abraham Oudeh diagnosed necrotizing fasciitis, an infection that destroys tissue.

Doctors at UNC Hospitals that evening tried to stop the spreading infection by amputating her arm at the clavicle and removing all the muscle and tissue around her left breast, torso and thigh in a futile effort to save her life.

Harnett County Health Director John Rouse Jr. said Bishop's was one of two confirmed cases of the bacteria that his office investigated in recent days after being notified by state health authorities. He said he believed the other woman, whom he also did not identify, knew Bishop.

Rouse said it would be impossible to determine whether they passed the bacteria to each other. Rouse said the other woman is recovering.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

© 2006 MSNBC.com

Lammastide said:

ewww....for real.

DynamicSavior said:

I used to pull that stunt sometimes. I'd pretend like they were soaking so I wouldn't have to wash them right away. I didn't hide them in the oven though.....that's crazy

evenstar3 said:

Some girls are just used to having their mamas clean up after them and just don't know any better when they go off to school or have to live with others. My roommate needs a fuckin' manual on how to be a somewhat decent roommate.....roommate etiquette 101...she'd flunk