VietNamNet Bridge – The Central Hospital for Tropical Diseases recently received a 40-year-old male patient from Thai Binh Province who was in the state of shock, gangrene on his left arm, caused by infection of the flesh-eating bacteria Aeromonas hydropila.

Previously, the patient had a fever and one day later his left forearm was swollen. That symptom spread across the arm and the shoulder. After 10 days of treatment, he got out of shock and sepsis, but the skin of his left arm was necrotized. He was transferred to the National Institute of Burns for skin grafts.

Dr. Nguyen Trung Cap, Deputy Director of the Emergency Ward of the Central Hospital for Tropical Diseases said this patient (hospitalized on April 12) had full clinical symptoms of infection with those who were infected with the flesh-eating bacteria. But he was treated by antibiotics so tests did not find the presence of the bacteria.

Since 2009, the hospital has received dozens of cases of sepsis due to Aeromonas hydropila bacteria. The bacteria quickly cause necrosis so they are called "flesh eating bacteria".

Recently the United States also discovered patients with the flesh-eating bacterial. Some of them had their limbs amputated or even died. The disease makes people panic.

Dr. Nguyen Hong Ha, Deputy Director of the Central Tropical Disease Hospital, said the cases in Vietnam showed typical characteristics of necrotic neck, chest, arms and legs but this is not the disease in many patients in the United States.

Aeromonas hydrophila is a heterotrophic, Gram-negative, rod-shaped bacterium mainly found in areas with a warm climate. This bacterium can be found in fresh or brackish water. It can survive in aerobic and anaerobic environments, and can digest materials such as gelatin and hemoglobin. Aeromonas hydrophila was isolated from humans and animals in the 1950s. It is the most well known of the six species of Aeromonas. It is resistant to most common antibiotics and cold temperatures.

Aeromonas hydrophila is not as pathogenic to humans as it is to fish and amphibians. One of the diseases it can cause in humans is gastroenteritis. This disease can affect anyone, but it occurs most in young children and people who have compromised immune systems or growth problems. This bacterium is linked to two types of gastroenteritis. The first type is a disease similar to cholera, which causes rice-water diarrhea. The other type of disease is dysenteric gastroenteritis, which causes loose stools filled with blood and mucus. Dysenteric gastroenteritis is the most severe out of the two types, and can last for multiple weeks. Aeromonas hydrophila is also associated with cellulitis, an infection that causes inflammation in the skin tissue. It also causes diseases such as myonecrosis and eczema in people with compromised or suppressed (by medication) immune systems. In very rare cases, Aeromonas hydrophila can cause necrotizing fasciitis.

Le Ha