Fournier’s Gangrene, a rare infection that generates from abscesses in the genital area is being charged with causing a number of men in South Africa to endure painful surgery that requires the removal of dead tissue around the penis, scrotum, and perineum, skin grafts and blood transfusions.
Baby afflicted with FG…Iranian Journal of Pediatrics
Nine patients a year are being reported to be admitted to one of many tertiary hospitals in South Africa. In the United States, one hospital in 100 treats the illness.
Fournier’s gangrene is an infection in which the sufferer experiences unbearable pain in the genital area. It progresses from redness – erythema to necrosis – the death of genital tissue. The rate of mortality is 50%. A bacterial infection in the urinary tract is the first stage which eventually leads to the clotting of small blood vessels underneath the skin.
In South Africa, the infection is being seen in patients infected with HIV and AIDS.
In the August issue of the South African Medical Journal‚ the authors document almost half of the patients being HIV-positive and 41% of diabetics were afflicted.
“Fasciitis extended to the chest wall in one patient and down the thighs in another‚” the doctors said. Both of these patients died.
The average age of patients was 51, some were in their 40’s.
Some sufferers of FG can be infants and adolescents. It can occur in these cases due to insect bites, trauma and burns.
Urologists reiterated that in developing countries such as SA‚ “poor socioeconomic conditions‚ limited access to healthcare‚ high HIV rates and a growing number of lifestyle diseases such as diabetes made Fournier’s gangrene “an important clinical condition.”
