Latest news with #cellulitis
The Sun
21-05-2025
- Health
- The Sun
My Friday night glass of wine triggered hideous bug that ravaged my body leaving me oozing pus from my groin to my foot
A GRAN admits she thought nothing of a tiny cut from a smashed wine glass - until she developed a "flesh-eating bug" that "ravaged" her body. Susan Sztybel had opened her kitchen cupboard to grab two wine glasses for her and her partner David Farmer, 69, when one fell out and smashed on the floor. 7 7 7 In the process, the 67-year-old said a shard of glass caught her right foot leaving a small one-inch cut in her skin on March 28. After the mum-of-three put plasters over the scratch, she went to bed and thought nothing more of it. But 24 hours later, Susan says she began to feel feverish as her cut began to bleed and ooze pus, so she went to Alexandra Hospital in Redditch to have it checked out. The carer was then transferred to a specialist team at Worcester Royal Hospital to be treated for sepsis, strep A, and cellulitis - which developed into a flesh-eating bacteria. By this point, Susan claims the infection had crept up her right leg into her groin and was told by doctors her chance of survival was low. She then underwent debridement surgeries to scrape as much of the "flesh-eating bug" out of her foot and was then put on a vac machine to suck the infection out of her skin. Due to the medication and the severity of her illness, the support worker claims she saw the "pearly gates" in hospital and feared she would die. Thankfully, doctors were able to save her life and foot and after more than a month in hospital, she is recovering at her partner's house. Susan is now keen to raise awareness about what happened to her to show how one small cut from a piece of glass almost cost her her life. Susan, from Stourport-on-Severn in Worcestershire, said: "On Friday night I got home and I opened the cupboard and this glass fell out and smashed. "I was just going to have a glass of wine with my partner to celebrate the weekend coming in. "It was a wine glass that smashed. My partner cleaned up the glass and I wiped my one-inch cut on my foot [from the glass] and put a plaster on it and thought no more of it. "[On Saturday], I carried on with my shift at work as a living carer. I knew I had done something to my ankle at this point as it was a bit sore. "24 hours later I felt a little bit sick and hot and then within a couple of hours I was feeling sick and was sweating and felt really poorly. "I didn't realise the seriousness at this point. I thought I just had a bug and I never imagined it was to do with my cut. "Someone took over my shift and at this point I was feeling very faint and my cut was oozing. I didn't realise the seriousness at this point. I thought I just had a bug and I never imagined it was to do with my cut Susan Sztybel "It was oozing and there was lots of clear blood and puss. My foot felt like it was pulsating. "Within 48 hours the infection had crept up my leg into my groin and this is when they said doctors would have to operate and they didn't know if I was going to survive. "All I kept saying was please save me. I didn't care if I lost my leg. "They say you see the pearly gates. In the next few days, I saw those pearly gates. I was hallucinating. "It was a flesh-eating bug which was ravaging through my skin and leg and I was fighting to keep alive. "I had to lay down with my leg higher than my heart for 23 hours a day and was only allowed to sit up to eat." It was a flesh-eating bug which was ravaging through my skin and leg and I was fighting to keep alive Susan Sztybel After more than a month in hospital, Susan was transferred to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham where she underwent plastic surgery on her foot on May 5th. While she has been told her foot may never look the same again, doctors have said she will not suffer any long-term effects from the infection. Susan said: "In the early days, I was told by a doctor that they couldn't believe I had survived so far as my infection marker was so high and I was very poorly. "Your infection marker should be at five and mine was 500 and you shouldn't survive with this. "I kept praying and hoping and I'm here to tell the tale. I defeated the odds. "They kept digging away at my ankle and had taken so much out I needed plastic surgery. 7 7 7 7 "They took skin from my thigh which is the donor site and put this on my ankle." The grandma-of-eight is now urging people to get their cuts checked out straight away if they believe them to be infected. Susan said: "A tiny, little one-inch cut that was clear and only needed a plaster on it turned into something so massive. "If this saves other people going through what I've gone through and saves their limbs and their lives, it's worth it. "I would tell people to act straight away [if they are concerned about a cut]. I didn't because I didn't think it was anything to worry about at first." Necrotising fasciitis Necrotising fasciitis, also known as the "flesh-eating disease", is a rare and life-threatening infection that can happen if a wound gets infected. It needs to be treated in hospital straight away. Symptoms can develop quickly within hours or a few days. At first, a person may have: intense pain or loss of feeling near to a cut or wound – the pain may seem much worse than you would usually expect from a cut or wound swelling of the skin around the affected area flu-like symptoms, such as a high temperature, headache and tiredness Later symptoms can include: being sick (vomiting) and diarrhoea confusion black, purple or grey blotches and blisters on the skin (these may be less obvious on black or brown skin) Call 999 or go to A&E if: you have a cut or wound that is much more painful than you would expect you have a cut or wound and get symptoms like a high temperature, headache, tiredness and muscle aches you have sudden confusion you have black, purple or grey blotches or blisters near a cut or wound Don't drive to A&E. Ask someone to drive you or call 999 and ask for an ambulance. Source: NHS
Daily Mail
19-05-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
Britain's most dangerous spider strikes in Hertfordshire: Man is left in 'unbearable' pain and struggling to walk after bite from noble false widow
A bite from 'Britain's most dangerous spider' has left a man in 'unbearable' pain and struggling to walk. Keith Robinson, 65, says he developed a large, angry inflammation on his leg shortly after clearing out cobwebs at home. At first he tried to treat it himself using painkillers and savlon, but before long it became too much to bear and he went to the hospital. Now he's been diagnosed with cellulitis around the wound, and can only walk for short distances before 'intense pain' sets in. Mr Robinson, from Watford, Hertfordshire, believes a noble false widow was responsible. He said: 'It must be more than coincidence that I had removed a large number of cobwebs from the house by hoover. 'So I'm thinking that I've disturbed a spider, and at some point, I got bitten.' The bite, unnoticeable at first, only got worse as the days passed. Keith Robinson, 65, says he developed a large, angry inflammation on his leg shortly after clearing out cobwebs at home He said: 'The stinging pain almost became unbearable at times until I was given stronger pain killers and antibiotics. 'The worst it got was the weekend of May 10. That's when I decided it was best to go to the hospital. 'Doctors diagnosed cellulitis due to infection of the bite. 'I was given a blood test and put on a saline drip, before I was released with painkillers and antibiotics.' The noble false widow is 'widely regarded as the most dangerous spider breeding in Britain,' according to a 2020 paper by Clive Hambler, an Oxford University zoologist. Known as Steatoda nobilis, they're not native to Britain and are thought to have arrived from the Canary Islands in banana boxes in the late 1800s before slowly spreading northwards. Keith hadn't realised just how severe a spider bite could be in Britain. He said: 'I can work but I am not able to walk very far without intense pain in that leg for quite a while. The noble false widow is 'widely regarded as the most dangerous spider breeding in Britain,' according to a 2020 paper by Clive Hambler, an Oxford University zoologist 'Life at home is very sedentary at the moment. 'It's not easy to cope with being so immobile now and the pain can be relentless without the painkillers. 'I hope I never get bitten again – this has been a painful experience just from a spider bite here in the UK.' Now he's speaking out to warn others to be cautious around the noble false widow. He said: 'Avoid them – check all spiders in your house or outbuildings where they like to live and remove them if found. 'If you catch a bite or suspect one then go to hospital and get it checked out the same day.' ARACHNOPHOBIA IS IN OUR DNA Recent research has claimed that a fear of spiders is a survival trait written into our DNA. Dating back hundreds of thousands of years, the instinct to avoid arachnids developed as an evolutionary response to a dangerous threat, the academics suggest. It could mean that arachnophobia, one of the most crippling of phobias, represents a finely tuned survival instinct. And it could date back to early human evolution in Africa, where spiders with very strong venom have existed millions of years ago. Study leader Joshua New, of Columbia University in New York, said: 'A number of spider species with potent, vertebrate specific venoms populated Africa long before hominoids and have co-existed there for tens of millions of years.
The Sun
18-05-2025
- Health
- The Sun
Horror bite from Britain's ‘most dangerous spider' leaves man struggling to walk & in ‘unbearable' pain
A BITE from "Britain's most dangerous spider" has left a man in "unbearable" pain and struggling to walk. Keith Robinson, 65, says he developed a large, angry inflammation on his leg shortly after clearing out cobwebs at home. 6 6 6 At first he tried to treat it himself using painkillers and Savlon, but before long it became too much to bear and he went to the hospital. Now he's been diagnosed with cellulitis around the wound, and can only walk for short distances before "intense pain" sets in. Keith, from Watford, Hertfordshire, believes a noble false widow was responsible. He said: "It must be more than coincidence that I had removed a large number of cobwebs from the house by hoover. "So I'm thinking that I've disturbed a spider, and at some point, I got bitten." The bite, unnoticeable at first, only got worse as the days passed. He said: "The stinging pain almost became unbearable at times until I was given stronger pain killers and antibiotics. "The worst it got was the weekend of May 10. That's when I decided it was best to go to the hospital. "Doctors diagnosed cellulitis due to infection of the bite. "I was given a blood test and put on a saline drip, before I was released with painkillers and antibiotics." The noble false widow is "widely regarded as the most dangerous spider breeding in Britain," according to a 2020 paper by Clive Hambler, an Oxford University zoologist. Known as Steatoda nobilis, the spiders are not native to Britain and are thought to have arrived from the Canary Islands in banana boxes in the late 1800s before slowly spreading northwards. Keith hadn't realised just how severe a spider bite could be in Britain. He said: "I can work but I am not able to walk very far without intense pain in that leg for quite a while. "Life at home is very sedentary at the moment. "It's not easy to cope with being so immobile now and the pain can be relentless without the painkillers. "I hope I never get bitten again - this has been a painful experience just from a spider bite here in the UK." Now he's speaking out to warn others to be cautious around the noble false widow. He said: "Avoid them - check all spiders in your house or outbuildings where they like to live and remove them if found. "If you catch a bite or suspect one then go to hospital and get it checked out the same day." 6 6 6
