A 64-year-old Swedish man contracted the bacteria while gardening and the infection caused him to lose some muscle in his legs and back. The case was reported in the journal International Journal of Surgery Case Reports and shows that infection by the bacteria Clostridium septicumif not treated, can lead to death.
Infections with bacteria of the genus Clostridium are known to generate gas gangrene, a condition developed by the patient and which, according to the Brazilian Journal of Otorhinolaryngologythe diagnosis was the leading cause of casualty deaths during World War I.
According to the British tabloid Daily Mailthe doctors who treated the case suspected that the man had been infected from an accidental cut in a barbed wire, but they also considered the possibility that the bacteria had infiltrated the body through a patient’s psoriatic wound.
The man then would have sought medical help after spending eight hours with fever and pain on the left side of his body. His admission to the hospital detected altered heartbeats and breathing, and a physical examination showed extreme sensitivity on the referred side of the man’s body.
According to the MSD Manual, gas gangrene is a condition characterized by the formation of gas bubbles, produced by bacteria, in the infected area. The picture is accompanied by fever, accelerated heart rate and breathing, and local pain.
Diagnosis requires imaging tests or culture and a sample obtained from the infected tissue, and treatment is performed with high doses of antibiotics, in addition to removal of the affected and/or dead muscle.
After determining that the man had not suffered any trauma, doctors sent him for a CT (computed tomography) scan, which detected fluid and gas around a muscle that connects the back and legs.
Before undergoing any surgery, those responsible decided to medicate him with antibiotics and observe, and he was taken for another CT after two and a half hours. The second exam showed a worsening of vital signs and an increase in gases and fluids in the infected site.
On this occasion, the Swedish patient required six surgeries to completely remove the affected areas, in addition to a long period of stay in the Vrinnevi Hospital ICU, in Norrköping.
Between operations, the doctors chose not to close the wound, in order to fight the bacteria through contact with oxygen, which would be toxic and would regress the progress of the infection.
During his 135-day stay in the hospital, the man also experienced cardiac arrest and an internal leak in one of the tubes that transport urine from the kidney to the bladder.
Although he was released, the patient was referred to an elderly care home, since, when trying to return home, he managed to walk only 20 meters and with aids.