RIP Schuyler

[moosmom]

It turns out, she MIGHT have had a condition known as necrotizing fasciitis. She wasn't found in the enclosure. She made her way inside where Nancy found her dead with an open wound down to the bone. I saw the pictures and have never seen anything like it. They are way too gruesome to post, but take my word for it.

Necrotizing fasciitis is a flesh eating disease that moves quickly throughout the body. Here's what we found:

Necrotizing fasciitis (flesh-eating disease) facts:

Necrotizing fasciitis refers to a rapidly spreading infection, usually located in fascial planes of connective tissue that results in tissue death (necrosis).

Different types of bacterial infection can cause necrotizing fasciitis.
The majority of cases begin with an existing infection, most frequently on an extremity or in a wound.
Necrotizing fasciitis is a serious condition that is often associated with sepsis and widespread organ failure.
Treatment of an infection caused by flesh-eating bacteria involves antibiotics and surgical debridement of the wound areas as well as supportive measures such as insertion of a breathing tube, intravenous administration of fluids, and drugs to support the cardiovascular system.

What is necrotizing fasciitis?

Necrotizing fasciitis is a term that describes a disease condition of rapidly spreading infection, usually located in fascial planes of connective tissue that results in tissue necrosis (dead and damaged tissue). Fascial planes are bands of connective tissue that surround muscles, nerves, and blood vessels. Fascial planes can bind structures together as well as allow body structures to slide over each other effectively. The disease occurs infrequently, but it can occur in almost any area of the body. Although many cases have been caused by group A beta-hemolytic streptococci (Streptococcus pyogenes), most investigators now agree that many different bacterial genera and species, either alone or together (polymicrobial), can cause this disease. Occasionally, mycotic (fungal) species cause necrotizing fasciitis.
Historically, several people first described this condition in the 1840s to 1870s, and Dr. B. Wilson first termed the condition necrotizing fasciitis in 1952. It is likely that the disease had been occurring for many centuries before it was first described in the 1800s. Currently, there are many names that have been used loosely to mean the same disease as necrotizing fasciitis: flesh-eating bacterial infection or flesh-eating disease; suppurative fasciitis; dermal, Meleney, hospital, or Fournier's gangrene; and necrotizing cellulitis. Body regions frequently have the term necrotizing placed before them to describe the initial localization of necrotizing fasciitis (for example, necrotizing colitis, necrotizing arteriolitis), but they all refer to the same disease process in the tissue. Important in understanding necrotizing fasciitis is the fact that whatever the infecting organism(s), once it reaches and grows in connective tissue, the spread of the infection can be so fast (investigators suggest some organisms can progress to involve about 3 centimeters of tissue per hour) that the infection becomes difficult to stop even with both antimicrobial drugs and surgery.

Mortality (death) rates have been reported as high as 75% for necrotizing fasciitis associated with Fournier's (testicular) gangrene. Patients with necrotizing fasciitis have an ongoing medical emergency that often leads to death or disability if it is not promptly and effectively treated.