An army veteran lost her leg after contracting a flesh-eating bacteria after doctors mistook the condition for a sprained knee.
Jennifer Barlow, 33, of Atlanta, Georgia, had just returned from a vacation in the Bahamas last January when she felt something was off.
Mrs Barlow went to the gym regularly and was ‘healthy as a ox’, but she suddenly felt weak and was in bed for four days.
Her right knee had swollen to “at least three times the size” of her left knee and felt red and warm.
Jennifer Barlow, 33, of Atlanta, Georgia, had just returned from a vacation in the Bahamas last January when she felt something was off. Her right knee had swollen to “at least three times the size” of her left knee and felt red and warm. She was in “excruciating” pain
Mrs Barlow was kept in an artificial coma for ten days. When she finally woke up, she had already had twelve surgeries. Later, her leg had to be removed
“I was in excruciating pain,” she told TODAY.com.
The doctors at Ms. Barlow’s local emergency room thought her knee was simply sprained and sent her home with crutches and pain medication. However, the knee continued to grow and looked like ‘a giant leg’.
Mrs. Barlow was diagnosed with a rare bacterial infection called necrotizing fasciitis.
Dr. Jonathan Pollock, Ms. Barlow’s physician at Joseph Cleland Atlanta VA Medical Center, told TODAY.com, “I was very concerned that she wouldn’t survive this.”
“It’s fair to say her life was in grave danger.”
Necrotizing fasciitis, also known as flesh-eating disease, is a serious, rapidly spreading infection that kills one in five patients, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
It usually enters the body through a cut or other break in the skin, including burns, insect bites, and surgical wounds.
The condition can be difficult to diagnose because the symptoms can mimic other illnesses. Symptoms include a red or warm area of skin that spreads quickly, severe pain, and fever. As necrotizing fasciitis spreads, it can cause sores or blisters on the skin, changes in skin color, pus or oozing, dizziness, fatigue, diarrhea, and nausea.
The CDC estimates that there are 700 to 1,150 cases in the US each year. There are about 500 cases in Britain each year, according to the NHS.
Getting treated right away is key to preventing the infection from spreading. Antibiotics can be effective, but do not always reach all infected areas.
Patients usually require multiple surgeries to remove as much dead flesh as possible.
Mrs Barlow was kept in an artificial coma for ten days. When she finally woke up, she had already had twelve surgeries.
“I was confused and scared,” she said.
Ms Barlow underwent more than 30 surgeries in total, including one to amputate her leg.
She also developed sepsis, the body’s extreme response to an infection.
Sepsis occurs when chemicals released into the bloodstream to fight an infection cause inflammation throughout the body. This causes a chain reaction, causing organs to fail.
Infections that lead to sepsis usually start in the lungs, urinary tract, skin, or gastrointestinal tract, but almost any infection can lead to sepsis.
According to the CDC, the complication is associated with one in three hospital deaths.
Ms. Barlow has had over thirty surgeries and is now raising money for a prosthetic leg
The symptoms can be very similar to the flu and include very high or low body temperature, sweating, extreme pain, clammy skin, dizziness, nausea, high heart rate, slurred speech, and confusion.
Ms Barlow’s case progressed to septic shock, which is characterized by a severe drop in blood pressure. Signs of septic shock include being unable to stand up, extreme fatigue or being unable to stay awake, and a major change in mental status, according to the Mayo Clinic.
If left untreated, sepsis and septic shock are fatal.
The disease affects 1.7 million Americans each year and kills 350,000 people, the CDC estimates.
According to The UK Sepsis Trust, it affects 245,000 people each year in Britain and causes 48,000 deaths.
The most common cause of necrotizing fasciitis is group A streptococci, a form of bacteria that can cause strep throat.
Ms Barlow believes she may have been exposed to the bacteria while on vacation in the Bahamas. Doctors still don’t know exactly what causes it.
She returned home after four months in hospital and is now raising money for a prosthetic leg.