Man, 55, develops rare flesh-eating disease after contracting common childhood virus

A middle-aged man diagnosed with the virus that causes chicken pox and shingles suffered a rare and potentially life-threatening infection that ate away at the flesh on his chest.

The 55-year-old man being treated for shingles went to the hospital with extreme swelling in his chest and a large open sore leaking a foul-smelling fluid, which doctors discovered to be a rare complication of the herpes zoster virus - also known as shingles.

The flesh-eating infection, known medically as necrotizing fasciitis, is typically caused by bacterial infections.

Though rare, it can develop after being infected with the virus that causes chickenpox and shingles. The severe rash gives way to open soars that welcome invading bacteria, which degrades skin tissue. 

The patient was being treated by doctors in Najran, Saudi Arabia, for shingles, a painful rash most commonly seen in older adults who had chickenpox as children.

Even after a person recovers from chickenpox, the herpes zoster virus remains dormant in the person’s system. It can become reactivated in older age, causing shingles.

The patient also had diabetes, which can weaken the immune system and impair its ability to keep the virus in check. 

Around 1million Americans are diagnosed with shingles every year. 

Shingles can be prevented with a vaccine that protects almost 100 percent of people from infection. Around 30 percent of seniors who are eligible for the vaccine have gotten one. 

The man developed the typical painful shingles rash around the front of his chest and his upper abdomen. 

The rash was treated with a topical cream and an antiviral medication typically used to treat the herpes family of viruses.

For about a week after beginning the antiviral medications, he suffered pain and swelling in his chest near the rash, which was not responding to topical treatment. The pain persisted and he developed a high fever.

When he arrived at the emergency room, doctors said the swelling on the left side of his chest was ‘massive’ with pus discharge ‘and a foul odor associated with throbbing pain and fever.’

The sore on his chest was slightly larger than a standard-size of printer paper.

Doctors gave him intravenous antibiotics and performed emergency surgery to drain the fluid and remove layers of dead tissue. In the surgery, doctors found severe skin damage extended deeper into the man’s muscles.

Cultures of the liquid taken from the man’s wound identified Staphylococcus aureus and Clostridium perfringens, strains that are resistant to certain antibiotics and thus difficult to treat effectively.

For five days in the hospital, doctors cleaned and treated the wound for five days. After that, a plastic surgeon closed the chest wound, using a vacuum for six days to help heal it, and then stitched it up. 

The patient was discharged in good condition after 16 days in the hospital, with the infection fully cleared. His ordeal was detailed in the American Journal of Case Reports. 

The shingles virus causes severe itching in a specific area, usually on one side of the body. This itching gives way to a painful rash and fluid-filled blisters that break open and become sores.

The open sores are prime entry points for bacteria to invade and cause secondary infections.

Treating a case of flesh-eating bacteria quickly with antibiotics and removing layers of dead tissue.

Necrotizing fasciitis can spread quickly, destroying more and more tissue the longer it goes untreated. The CDC estimates there are between 700 and 1,200 cases of necrotizing fasciitis in the US every year.

To fight infection, the immune system sends immune cells to fight the infection. But this response can result in widespread inflammation throughout the body, potentially leading to a decreased flow of oxygen to vital organs. 

Surgery to remove the dead tissue is crucial, with researchers noting that nearly 100 percent of patients die without it.