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Nosocomial transmission of necrotising fasciitis organisms from prepartum patient to healthcare worker
  1. Jacques X Zhang1,
  2. Connor T McSweeney2 and
  3. Kevin L Bush1
  1. 1 Division of Plastic Surgery, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
  2. 2 Faculty of Medicine, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
  1. Correspondence to Dr Jacques X Zhang; jacques.zhang{at}alumni.ubc.ca

Abstract

Necrotising fasciitis is an aggressive skin and soft tissue infection requiring urgent surgical treatment, resuscitative efforts and intensive care management. We herein present a case of necrotising fasciitis with nosocomial transmission of causative organisms from patient to healthcare worker. Bacterial transmission from human to human despite personal protective equipment is quite rare, and with limited reports in the literature. The patient was also prepartum, representing to our knowledge, one of only a handful of cases of prepartum necrotising fasciitis. Recommendations to avoid healthcare worker transmission include wearing Association of the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation level 4 gowns during debridement, as well as eye protection and changing scrubs and showering between cases.

  • plastic and reconstructive surgery
  • infectious diseases

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Footnotes

  • Contributors JXZ and KLB participated directly in patient care. KLB is the supervising and senior author. Patient data were combined by JXZ. Literature review and manuscript writing was done by JXZ and CTMS.

  • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

  • Competing interests None declared.

  • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.