How a mistake at the beach ended with me needing an amputation
A relaxing trip to a North Carolina beach turned into a nightmare for one man after he cut his thumb on a piece of wire in the sand and contracted a flesh-eating bacterial infection.
Greg Coleman, 53, was at Topsail beach trying to make a wire sieve so his wife could hunt for prehistoric shark teeth, which are known to wash up in the area.
While the handyman was assembling the tools, he suffered several cuts and abrasions on his hands, but he thought nothing of it.
However, two days after his visit to the beach on August 18, he noticed that one of the small cuts on his thumb “blew up and became very painful.”
It wasn’t long after that Mr. Coleman rushed to the hospital with an infection from a drug-resistant bacteria that required the tip of his thumb to be amputated.
Greg Coleman, 53, was at Topsail Beach in North Carolina when he suffered a small cut on his thumb that continued to worsen
Describing the series of events, he said: ‘The infection started to run down my arm and into my shoulder.
‘I became increasingly concerned about the condition of my thumb and sought medical advice.
‘I initially went on a virtual doctor’s visit to get antibiotics, but no one knew what it was or how to treat it.
‘However, the pain continued to increase and on August 22 I went to A&E where I was given an injection of antibiotics and some more pills.
“Just two days after that, I had to rush to the ER, where they admitted me and gave me intravenous antibiotics.”
The 53-year-old believes he may have contracted MRSA, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, a drug-resistant bacteria that may have entered his bloodstream at the beach through the small cut on his thumb.
Because the hospital never did a culture test to see what it was, it is unclear whether Mr. Coleman had MRSA, but he showed common MRSA symptoms and doctors also suspected it was a bacterial skin infection.
Staphylococcus aureus (staph) is a common germ that many people have in their bodies, but MRSA is a type of staph that is resistant to common antibiotics. This makes it difficult to treat and can lead to serious health complications.
MRSA infections usually start at the site of cuts, scrapes, or broken skin and initially appear as a bump but develop into painful, red, swollen areas that may be filled with pus.
Severe cases of MRSA can lead to pneumonia, sepsis, necrotizing fasciitis (an infection that kills the body’s tissues), and death.
Although the bacteria is resistant to common antibiotics, several others have proven effective, and surgery is usually required to remove the entire infection.
MRSA occurs most often in hospital patients and affects approximately 1.2 million people per year.
Mr Coleman, who runs a small renewable gas power plant in North Carolina, said he had “never experienced pain like this” when the infection started, and it felt like his thumb was being “hit with a hammer over and over again”.
After receiving eleven different antibiotics, most of the infection cleared up a month later.
However, the father-of-two suffered even more serious symptoms in late September when the bacteria traveled through his bloodstream and entered his thumb bone.
To prevent the infection from spreading further, he was rushed into surgery, during which doctors had to cut out the infected bone.
Now Mr Coleman says the wound has mostly healed, but he will be more careful the next time he goes to the beach
The bacterial infection penetrated Mr. Coleman’s thumb bone, so he had to have the tip removed
Although he did not lose his entire thumb, Mr. Coleman was left with a divot at the tip.
Now Mr. Coleman says the wound is mostly healed and the infection is almost gone, but he will be more careful the next time he goes to the beach.
He added: ‘I heard about another lady who had a scratch on her leg and also became infected with MRSA that same week and after visiting the same beach.
‘As a child I grew up on a farm and ran around without shoes all the time and as an adult I lived in Africa for a year where I did the same. I always got small cuts on my feet, but in the past everything always healed.
“So it seems foolish that in a first world country I get a shot from a new wire and seek medical attention, and things go so badly.
“If this had happened abroad when I was younger, I would definitely have had to cut off my thumb to save myself.”
MRSA isn’t the only bacteria lurking on American beaches. The deadly flesh-eating vibrio vulnificus bacteria has been found on beaches along the East Coast over the past year; off the coast of Long Island, in Connecticut, at beaches and shellfish restaurants in Florida, and more.
Vibrio cases rose over the summer, sickening 11 people in three states: North Carolina, New York and Connecticut. The average age of the patients was 70 years. Four people went into septic shock and five died.
All but one exposure was linked to wound exposure to natural water bodies.
Dr. Lisa Plano, of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, says that to prevent bacterial infections at the beach, it’s best to shower before and after you get in the water.
And if you have an open wound, it’s best to avoid the beach altogether or make sure existing scrapes and cuts are adequately bandaged.