Post by aussie on Oct 24, 2006 22:52:11 GMT -5
Is nowhere safe from these organisms?
July 30, 2006 12:00am
Article from: Sunday Herald Sun
"AN epidemic of flesh-eating-bug cases has broken out in Victoria, leaving its victims with horrific scars. The number of Bairnsdale ulcer cases has increased threefold in the state this year compared with last year.
And the bacteria that causes the flesh-eating ulcer is on the move.
The mycobacterium ulcers can kill people from toxic shock and leaves victims with nasty scars. They can also force the amputation of limbs if left untreated.
The increase in cases is alarming, according to a Victorian ulcer expert.
"The rise in the number of cases and the changes to the locations where it is being contracted is significant," Austin Hospital's ulcer expert and deputy director of infectious diseases, Dr Paul Johnson, said.
There have been 35 cases this year compared with 12 at this time last year. Three new cases were diagnosed this week.
The bug is on the move from the state's east to west, with cases initially diagnosed in Mornington Peninsula, Gippsland Lakes and Phillip Island, and now St Leonards, Point Lonsdale, Ocean Grove and Barwon Heads.
Dr Johnson says there is strong evidence the ulcers are being transmitted by mosquitoes.
One Newtown woman who spent 10 days in hospital after contracting the disease has been left with an 8cm crater that stretches from her upper thigh to her hip.
"I got a fever and swelling all along my side, and then . . . this pus was just leaking out of me," she said.
"The doctors said if I had waited another 12 hours to get to hospital I wouldn't be here."
And 11-year-old Lara boy Nick Hutchinson will bear the scars of the bacteria all his life after having three operations to remove a hand ulcer.
The Department of Human Services is so concerned that it has given Dr Johnson's team an extra $190,000 to continue research into the disease and a vaccine.
He said mosquito bites appeared to be a risk factor and there seemed to be a connection with disturbance of low-lying land and swamps.
"But we haven't proved that mosquitoes transmit the disease, so we have collected 20,000 mosquitoes from Point Lonsdale. So far, out of 10,000 tested, 50 have the bacteria.
"But mosquitoes are everywhere and the disease is not everywhere.
"There is something . . . that the mosquito comes in contact with that is causing the bacteria."
Tasmanian Devil Facial tumours-
www.dpiw.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/WebPages/JCOK-65X2Y6?open#NewsletterontheDevil
July 30, 2006 12:00am
Article from: Sunday Herald Sun
"AN epidemic of flesh-eating-bug cases has broken out in Victoria, leaving its victims with horrific scars. The number of Bairnsdale ulcer cases has increased threefold in the state this year compared with last year.
And the bacteria that causes the flesh-eating ulcer is on the move.
The mycobacterium ulcers can kill people from toxic shock and leaves victims with nasty scars. They can also force the amputation of limbs if left untreated.
The increase in cases is alarming, according to a Victorian ulcer expert.
"The rise in the number of cases and the changes to the locations where it is being contracted is significant," Austin Hospital's ulcer expert and deputy director of infectious diseases, Dr Paul Johnson, said.
There have been 35 cases this year compared with 12 at this time last year. Three new cases were diagnosed this week.
The bug is on the move from the state's east to west, with cases initially diagnosed in Mornington Peninsula, Gippsland Lakes and Phillip Island, and now St Leonards, Point Lonsdale, Ocean Grove and Barwon Heads.
Dr Johnson says there is strong evidence the ulcers are being transmitted by mosquitoes.
One Newtown woman who spent 10 days in hospital after contracting the disease has been left with an 8cm crater that stretches from her upper thigh to her hip.
"I got a fever and swelling all along my side, and then . . . this pus was just leaking out of me," she said.
"The doctors said if I had waited another 12 hours to get to hospital I wouldn't be here."
And 11-year-old Lara boy Nick Hutchinson will bear the scars of the bacteria all his life after having three operations to remove a hand ulcer.
The Department of Human Services is so concerned that it has given Dr Johnson's team an extra $190,000 to continue research into the disease and a vaccine.
He said mosquito bites appeared to be a risk factor and there seemed to be a connection with disturbance of low-lying land and swamps.
"But we haven't proved that mosquitoes transmit the disease, so we have collected 20,000 mosquitoes from Point Lonsdale. So far, out of 10,000 tested, 50 have the bacteria.
"But mosquitoes are everywhere and the disease is not everywhere.
"There is something . . . that the mosquito comes in contact with that is causing the bacteria."
Tasmanian Devil Facial tumours-
www.dpiw.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/WebPages/JCOK-65X2Y6?open#NewsletterontheDevil