The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that 1 in 3 people with necrotizing fasciitis infections dies, even if they receive treatment. One woman in California is calling for people to be on the lookout after her son was infected with the bacterium and died.
Susan Mc Intyre’s son, Jeff Bova, 41, died last Friday after he went through standing water with a small cut on his right arm last month, chasing his dog into a pond, and was infected with the flesh-eating bacteria.
Mc Intyre is now calling for people to stay clear of standing water, “especially after it rains,” she said on Tuesday while speaking with NBC News.
“If you get any kind of cut and it starts getting red, go to the doctor immediately — don’t wait,” Mc Intyre warned.
Mc Intyre says that her son was not someone who goes to the doctor’s office often, and he tried to fight through the infection after he contracted it in the mountains of Julian in San Diego County.
“He developed these really nasty blisters, and he said that it felt … when his arm was oozing that it was acid coming down his arm,” she said.
The CDC says necrotizing fasciitis causes an often deadly infection that spreads quickly and attacks the body’s soft tissue. Symptoms can include warm skin with red or publish areas that are painful and swollen, fever, fatigue, and vomiting.
There are around 700 to 1,100 cases of necrotizing fasciitis recorded every year in the U.S., according to the CDC.
After an infection, the CDC says that “accurate diagnosis, rapid antibiotic treatment, and prompt surgery are important to stopping this infection.”
Mc Intyre shared that her son was using antibiotic cream and moisture to treat the infection but eventually went to the hospital, where he died two days later.
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