THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, June 11, 1994 TAG: 9406110345
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: D3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TOM HOLDEN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940611 LENGTH: Medium
But so little is known about this strain of streptococcus A that medical experts cautioned people to watch for warning signs because an infection can move quickly and cause great damage.
{REST} Children with active chicken pox and others with numerous skin abrasions are at risk because the bacteria can easily enter the body through those openings.
Lt. Cmdr. James A. Newton, the physician at the Portsmouth Naval Hospital who treated the four local patients, said infections can take several forms and do not always affect the skin.
The strain of bacteria, called necrotising fasciiti, has been known to cause blood infections, pneumonias, scarlet fever and strep throat, he said, although all four local patients had developed skin infections.
If an infection settles under the skin, it will appear first as a small red rash, Newton said. Within 24 hours the rash will spread quickly, its color deepening to purple as the bacteria move along a membrane found between muscle and fat.
Pain can be intense, and patients often experience fevers, chills and shakes, he said. The bacteria usually cause tissue to die, resulting in infections.
But the bacteria strike few people with such severity.
``This strain of bacteria is so rare that it's impossible to take preventive measures,'' Newton said.
Streptococcus A is a common bacterium that has been around for many years. Common strains of it are found on the skin. But like most living organisms, it evolves and changes.
The current strain attracted recent attention when six people in Gloucestershire, England, were stricken, three of them fatally. But infection does not always follow exposure.
``We are trying to assure the American public there is no need for unnecessary alarm,'' said Tom Skinner, a spokesman for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, which is monitoring media accounts of the outbreak.
``These kinds of infections do not pose a great deal of a threat to the public health,'' Skinner said. ``It can be serious if it infects people in certain ways, but it is not something that people need to be overly concerned about.''
Strep infections of one kind or another occur between 10,000 to 15,000 times a year in the United States, Skinner said. A small percentage of those infections result in the condition where muscle and fat tissue are broken down, as in the four local cases, he said.
The local patients - three adults and one child - were treated at the Naval Hospital over the past three months and have been released.
{KEYWORDS} DISEASE
by CNB