where did the flesh eating bacteria come from
Necrotizing fasciitis In the 5th century BC, Hippocrates described necrotising soft tissue infection as a disease which was the complication of Streptococcal infection where those affected would have "erysipelas all over the body while the cause was only a trivial accident. Bones, flesh, and sinew (cord, tendon, or nerve) would fall off from the body and there were many deaths". The first English description for necrotising soft tissue infection was by British surgeon Leonard Gillespie and British physicians Gilbert Blaine and Thomas Trotter in the 18th century. At that time, necrotising soft tissue infection was known as phagedaenic (gnaw - biting or chewing which gradually make a hole or destroying it) ulcer, phagedena gangrenous, gangrenous ulcer, malignant ulcer, putrid ulcer, or hospital gangrene. Later the word "hospital gangrene" become more commonly used. In 1871, Confederate States Army surgeon Joseph Jones reported 2,642 cases of hospital gangrene with mortality rate of 46%. In 1883, Dr Jean-Alfred Fournier described the necrotising infection of the perineum and scrotum which termed as Fournier gangrene today. The term "Necrotising fasciitis" was first coined by Wilson in 1952. The definition of necrotising fasciitis has become broader, to include not only infection of fascia, but also other soft tissue infection.[2]