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Medics from Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital described with cases of three women with necrotising fasciitis affecting their vulvas<\/p>\n
“Necrotising fasciitis is an uncommon and rapidly progressive surgical emergency,” medics from Shrewsbury<\/a> and Telford Hospital NHS<\/a> Trust wrote in BMJ Case Reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n Necrotising fasciitis<\/a> is a rare and rapidly life-threatening infection in which the flesh rots and dies.<\/p>\n The team said their hospital had seen a worrying rise in the flesh-eating disease in recent years – and they want other gynaecologists to keep an eye out.<\/p>\n Twenty cases had been reported between 2022 and 2024 alone. In contrast, 18 cases were seen in the whole decade before that.<\/p>\n Read more on women’s health<\/p>\n The rare flesh eating disease<\/a> can develop after a wound – from surgery or something as small as a cut, scrape or insect bite – gets infected.<\/p>\n Bacteria<\/a> penetrate the deep layers of the skin – known as the fascia, which surrounds and holds muscles, nerves, fat and blood vessels in place – spreading quickly and causing them to die. <\/p>\n Bill Sullivan, a professor of microbiology and immunology at Indiana University, told Live Science<\/a>: “Necrotising fasciitis can occur anywhere skin or tissue is breached, including genitalia.<\/a><\/p>\n “It’s an extremely aggressive infection that can advance to a life-threatening situation in 24-48 hours. <\/p>\n “After these bacteria get into the skin, they release potent toxins that lead to rapid tissue destruction, liquefying muscle, nerves, and blood vessels.”<\/p>\n It needs to be treated promptly with antibiotics<\/a>, and sometimes surgery is required to remove damaged tissue.<\/p>\n The 2 forms of contraceptive ‘most likely to trigger deadly heart attack and stroke’ revealed<\/p>\n If the bacteria infect the blood stream, this can subsequently lead to sepsis<\/a> – a life threatening reaction to an infection where the immune system goes into overdrive, causing the body to attack its own tissues and organs. <\/p>\n Dr Sullivan said: “Vaginal necrotising fasciitis could be contracted through rough sex, a piercing, or cosmetic and surgical procedures.<\/p>\n “The mortality rate is estimated to be up to 50 per cent.”<\/p>\n Medics detailed the cases of three women who’d developed the horrifying infection on their vulva – this is the external female genitalia, including the inner and outer labia, clitoris and vaginal opening. <\/p>\n “Two of our patients presented to emergency with vulval necrotising fasciitis, while the third developed it as a complication of postoperative wound infection,” they wrote. <\/p>\n “All patients underwent extensive surgical debridement and required a multidisciplinary approach from gynaecologists, surgeons, the intensive care team and the tissue viability team.”<\/p>\n