A 53-year-old Florida man was hospitalized after a family member's bite resulted in the flesh-eating bacteria necrotizing fasciitis, NBC News reported June 9.
The patient, Donnie Adams, went to the emergency room in February after a family brawl led to a bite and bump on his upper left thigh. He went home with a tetanus shot and antibiotics, but the injury worsened to his leg swelling and mobility issues, according to the news outlet.
Mr. Adams underwent two surgeries at HCA Florida Northside Hospital in St. Petersburg, which removed about 60 percent of the skin. He told NBC News he was one to two days away from requiring an amputation.
"I knew it was serious then after I got the tetanus shot," Mr. Adams told the outlet. "I had no imagination that it would be anything serious like this, that serious."
The bacteria can come from multiple sources, including invasive group A strep and other bacteria found in water, dirt and saliva, and it can kill tissue within hours or days.
Necrotizing fasciitis is rare, but the development from a human bite is even more unlikely, according to Fritz Brink, DO, who treated Mr. Adams. Dr. Brink said he expects Mr. Adams to make a full recovery.