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Clostridium Terfringens and Gas Gangrene by Justin Barnes

Gangrene is the condition of a limb being cut off from its blood supply. It occurs when there are extreme environmental factors such as freezing cold (dry gangrene) or through bacterial infection of open wound (moist gangrene). Moist gangrene occurs when the blood supply is cut off long enough that cells in the isolated limb begin to die and secrete pus and other fluids. This moist environment is the perfect place for bacteria to grow. If some clostridium-strain bacteria (and sometimes other strains) infect this area then there can be real complications for the host such as gas gangrene (the condition in which highly reproductive bacteria infect the area and spread quickly producing small gas bubbles beneath the skin of the host).

Gas gangrene is the most deadly type of gangrenous infection because it spreads so rapidly and does the most damage. The bubbles of gas given off are the waste product of the tissues beneath being eaten by the bacteria. Severe gangrene infections can spread at rates up to an inch an hour. Common symptoms of gangrenous infections are weeping wounds, brown pus, foul or sweet smell and visible rotting of the flesh. Treatments are mostly limited to penicillin although other antibacterial works. If the infection is beneath the surface of the skin, the dead tissues must be removed and penicillin must be given both intravenously and topically. In the US alone 900-1000 reported cases are recorded each year for humans. 25% of the gas gangrene infected victims die. The bacteria can infect any species that can sustain injuries cutting off the blood supply to the limbs. __Bibliography__ http://www.bu.edu/cohis/infxns/bacteria/prfngens.htm http://brooks.pvt.k12.ma.us/~bheun/gg.html http://www.emedicine.com/EMERG/topic211.htm [|Return to Bacterial Disease Page]