An-11-year-old boy in the United States died after contracting a flesh-eating infection from a twisted ankle he sustained while running on a treadmill. Jesse Brown died less than two weeks after he developed a deadly Group A Strep (iGAS) infection, Fox news reported.
A few days after the ankle injury, Brown woke up with bruises that alarmed his family. His cousin Megan Brown said he woke up with “a crazy rash”. “His leg was covered in splotchy, purple, and red, almost like bruises. It came on so fast… in just a matter of days it shut down all his organs, ” she said.
He was rushed to the hospital where doctors diagnosed him with Strep A, but they could not save him, as flesh-eating bacteria led to Brown’s brain swelling, and he died just days later.
Brown’s family told Fox News that he was a healthy boy studying in the fifth grade at school, who rode motocross and was always on the go before he twisted his ankle on a treadmill, possibly scratching himself, a few weeks ago, which set off a series of events that resulted in his death.
Invasive strep-a cases among children in the United States have increased recently, according to pediatrician Dr. Candice Jones of Orlando.
“Some of the speculations have been that some of those cases started after respiratory infections, and we had been seeing an uptick in those types of infections anyway post-pandemic. There are thus several routes of entry through which these bacteria can cause mild to severe infection and even death,” Dr. Jones was quoted by Fox news.
Jones said that most cases are not as severe, but in very rare cases, it can cause a secondary infection like flesh-eating disease. She said symptoms to look out for include swelling, redness, a foul smell, and fever.
