Woman's Leg Amputated After Contracting Flesh-Eating Bacteria
A young woman in Georgia is fighting for her life after she contracted flesh eating bacteria following an accident resulting from a zip line incident.
Just over a week ago Aimee Copeland, 24, was kayaking down a creek in Carrolton with friends when they decided to stop and play with a homemade zip line. While she was on the device the line snapped and as a result suffered a large wound on her calf.
Copeland, who is graduate student at the University of West Georgia, was taken to Tanner Medical Center where doctors closed the wound with 22 staples. She was given medication and then released.
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But all was not right with her recovery and a few days after she went back to the hospital complaining of pain in her leg. Doctors once again gave her additional medication and told her to get some rest.
Things unfortunately did not get better, they got much worse. On Friday Copeland was taken to the hospital once again after she had a stubborn fever of 102 degrees and had pail color skin.
Doctors quickly realized that something was wrong and quickly identified the problem. Copeland was suffering from necrotizing fasciitis, a rare flesh-eating bacteria that can destroy skin, fat and muscle.
The bacteria spread very quickly and doctors explained that it had reached her hip region and that her entire leg would have to be amputated.
Copeland was rushed into emergency surgery where doctors performed a high-hip amputation of her left leg and removed further infected tissue from her abdomen.
"The surgeons advised me that they wanted to try to save her leg, but at this point saving her life took precedence," Copeland's father wrote on Facebook.
"Aimee [cardiac] arrested when they moved her from the operating table, but they were able to successfully resuscitate her," he added.
Copeland has been in critical condition since the operation and doctors are worried that the bacteria may have spread too far and could go on to affect her organs.
