Knowra Necrotizing fasciitis Necrotizing fasciitis Necrotizing fasciitis is a rapidly progressive infection that destroys fascia and adjacent soft tissue. It can spread along tissue planes and cause systemic illness requiring emergency treatment.
Fascia : Fascia is connective tissue that surrounds, supports, and separates muscles, organs, nerves, and blood vessels. The infection advances through this connective-tissue network and destroys it.
Pain out of proportion : Pain out of proportion is severe pain that exceeds what visible examination findings would predict. This early warning sign can precede dramatic skin changes in necrotizing infection.
Necrotizing soft-tissue infection : A necrotizing soft-tissue infection rapidly destroys skin, subcutaneous tissue, fascia, or muscle. Necrotizing fasciitis is one form within this broader group of destructive infections.
Hippocrates : Hippocrates was an ancient Greek physician whose writings shaped early Western medicine. His writings include an early description of a rapidly spreading, destructive gangrenous illness.
Group A Streptococcus : Group A Streptococcus is a bacterium that causes illnesses ranging from strep throat to invasive infections. It is a major cause of rapidly spreading, toxin-producing necrotizing infections.
Surgical debridement : Surgical debridement is the removal of dead, damaged, or infected tissue from the body. Repeated urgent removal of infected tissue is central to controlling this disease.
Cellulitis : Cellulitis is a bacterial infection of the skin and underlying soft tissue that causes spreading redness and swelling. Unlike typical cellulitis, necrotizing infection rapidly destroys deeper tissue and often requires surgery.
Joseph Jones : Joseph Jones was a nineteenth-century American physician who described severe hospital gangrene during the Civil War. His account documented a destructive soft-tissue infection in wounded soldiers.
Streptococcal pyrogenic exotoxin : Streptococcal pyrogenic exotoxins are bacterial proteins that can act as superantigens and provoke intense immune activation. These toxins can contribute to shock and organ failure in invasive streptococcal disease.
Empiric antibiotic therapy : Empiric antibiotic therapy is treatment started before the causative organism and its drug sensitivities are known. Broad intravenous antibiotics begin immediately while cultures and surgery clarify the infection.
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