Florida man contracts flesh-eating bacteria after being bitten by RELATIVE while trying to argue at family party
- Adams was trying to get between two family members who were arguing when he was bitten
- A doctor revealed that he was infected with a flesh-eating bacteria
- Surgeons said he might have lost his leg or gone into shock if he hadn’t gone to the ER
A Florida man survived an infection from flesh-eating bacteria that he bizarrely contracted from another man while trying to break up an argument at a family party.
Donnie Adams was attending a family event in Tampa Bay in February when two family members started arguing.
Adams tried to get between them, but one of them ended up biting him before he could stop the fight.
He went straight to the hospital and got a tetanus shot and antibiotics, but he said it only got worse.
“By the third day, my leg was really hurting. I couldn’t walk, it was very hot and very painful,” Adams said.
A Florida man survived an infection from flesh-eating bacteria that he bizarrely contracted from another man while trying to end an argument at a family party
He eventually returned to the hospital, according to WSAVwhen he received startling news from osteopathic physician Dr. Fritz Brink of HCA Florida.
Brink told Adams he had necrotizing fasciitis, more commonly known as flesh-eating bacteria.
The disease enters through a break in the skin, travels through the muscle sheath and destroys healthy tissue.
Brink immediately performed surgery to excise the infected tissue in Adams’ thigh, which the doctor believes was from the bite.
“A human bite is dirtier than a dog bite in terms of the type of bacteria that grows,” says Brink. ‘Normal bacteria in a different place can be a real problem.’
About 70 percent of the tissue on the front of Adams’ thigh had to be cut away, the Tampa Bay Times.
“You’re torn between being as aggressive as possible to keep the infection from spreading and leaving as much tissue as possible so it doesn’t take two years to heal,” Brink said.
Adams claims that if he hadn’t gone to the ER, “there’s a good chance I would have lost my leg” or gone into potentially fatal septic shock.
Donnie Adams was attending a family event in Tampa Bay in February when two family members started arguing
Adams (pictured right) was treated by osteopathic physician Dr. Fritz Brink (pictured left) at HCA Florida
Adams no longer has any functional problems, but has a nasty, visible scar on his thigh from the surgery
“They assessed my wound and it was very horrific,” Adams recalls. ‘It was unbelievable. But in my mind I just had to go through whatever this was.”
Adams took nearly three weeks to recover in hospital, but is in the middle of a six-month treatment to fully recover.
He no longer has any functional problems, but has a nasty, visible scar on his thigh from the surgery.
However, Adams has maintained a positive attitude about the whole process and credits his recovery to both doctors, as well as regular prayer and meditation.
“What you see now, you see not just a scar, but the beauty of the aftermath,” he said.
“I never thought a human bite would turn into something as gruesome as a flesh-eating bacteria.”