- SAINT JOHN (CP) -- Health
officials in New Brunswick placed a hospital patient in isolation and five
others under observation on the weekend after the flesh-eating disease
claimed the life of one person.
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- The steps were taken after the bacterial infection, also
known as necrotizing fasciitis, killed an unidentified patient in Saint
John on Friday.
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- The second patient, who was also been diagnosed with
the disease, was in listed in serious condition Sunday at the Saint John
Regional hospital, according to officials with the Atlantic Health Sciences
Corp.
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- Officials have yet to determine the source of the infection.
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- The bacteria that causes the disease consumes flesh,
often leading to amputation or death. It can be transmitted through body
secretions exchanged during close contact, such as kissing.
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- Dr. James O'Brien, head of the Atlantic Health Sciences,
said the two patients arrived at the hospital "in fairly rapid succession."
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- Both were very ill with soft-tissue infections that were
quickly identified as flesh-eating disease.
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- "One person succumbed within 24 hours of beginning
treatment," he said at a news conference Sunday.
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- The only link found between the two infected individuals
so far is that they were both treated at St. Joseph's hospital in Saint
John last week.
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- "That's the only similarity we've found," said
health authority spokeswoman Patricia Crowdis. "And it's not even
enough to be called a link."
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- It was initially reported that a 37-year-old woman had
died, however officials later said the health authority would not provide
any information about either patient.
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- When the condition spreads into the muscle tissue, it
is called necrotizing myositis. Death can occur within 12 to 24 hours of
infection.
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- Meanwhile, officials have contacted everyone who was
a patient at the day-surgery unit on Monday and Tuesday. That's when the
two infected patients received medical attention.
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- "We have instituted precautions to contain the spread
of this infection and now feel the situation is under control, as no new
cases have developed," Dr. O'Brien said.
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- The five patients under observation are being treated
with antibiotics as a preventive measure.
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- "As of today, none of those patients are exhibiting
symptoms," said Ms. Crowdis.
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- "That particular strain is a very aggressive strain,
it acts differently in different individuals."
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- The incubation period for the flesh-eating disease is
believed to be about three days.
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- Public health officials usually monitor at-risk patients
for double that length of time, which means it could be four days before
the five at-risk patients are released.
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- Ms. Crowdis said health officials were "confident
in our sterilization procedure in our instruments."
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- In Canada, there are between 90 and 200 cases of the
flesh-eating disease each year, according to Health Canada.
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- The disease is fatal in about 20 to 30 per cent of cases.
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- Symptoms of necrotizing fasciitis include fever, severe
pain and a red, painful swelling that spreads rapidly.
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- Last April, a woman in Ottawa and a man in Montreal died
within days of each other after both were infected with the flesh-eating
disease in separate incidents.
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- Former Quebec premier Lucien Bouchard was forced to have
his left leg amputated in 1994 after he was afflicted with the disease.
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