Causes
Gas gangrene is the most life threatening form of gangrene. It occurs were a wound is open to bacterial spores, which mainly are clostridium. These bacteria enter the wound and rest. Clostridium is an anaerobic bacterium, which means the bacteria, grows best in the absence of oxygen. Because human tissue contains a lot of oxygen the bacteria is rarely bothered, but when they clostridia grow, they release gases and poisons into the body. This then will cause infection of gangrene and possibly death.
Symptoms and complications
The symptoms of gangrene are very quick and occur in a very short time span.
- Severe pain around injury
- Progressive swelling
- Fever
- Skin colour turns from a pale colour to a dark red or purple.
- Blisters filled with a brown red fluid
- Blister bursts with the brown red fluid coming out leaving a terrible and foul smell.
- Increase in heart rate
- Sweating
The after or long term affects are:
- Tissue damage
- Jaundice with liver damage
- Kidney failure
- Spread of infection throughout the body
- Shock
- Coma
- Delirium
Prevention and treatment of the disease
Gangrene spreads so quickly which makes it hard to defeat by just using antibiotics.
Antibiotics help slow the infection and remove unseen pockets of bacteria. A surgeon can remove the infected flesh so it does not spread. If this does not work, amputation is used. The final way of treating gangrene is to place the infected person in a hyperbaric chamber that is filled with pressurised oxygen. This stops the spreading of the bacteria. With modern treatments, 80% of people survive with small muscle tissue lost. To prevent the effects of gangrene all wounds must be cleaned with antiseptic and if an infection occurs visit the doctor.
Is the disease serious?
This is a very serious disease, which can lead to immense pain and then death. This disease is also very hard to treat which makes it lethal. Once an amputation has occurred were things have got serious matters get a lot worse making this disease extremely serious
