Gas Gangrene: A Deadly Lethal Disease due to Clostridium perfringens
Author(s): Soumya Ranjan Sahoo*, Mriganka Deb
Abstract
Clostridia gas gangrene is a long-recognized complication of trauma and penetration of intra-abdominal wounds. Some of the common symptoms for a person infected with gas gangrene can be reasonably more sweating with higher rate of heart beat (tachycardia) and relatively high fever. Severity of this catastrophic disease cannot be ignored as once infected the body starts deteriorating rapidly initiating the death of the person. On detailed examination of cases one can observe large blisters beneath the skin, damage of body cells and tissues, swelling around the wound. Thus, once Clostridium perfringens is detected in a case of gas gangrene it is recommended to undergo immediate surgery to prevent death, and remove the damaged or infected tissues from the body. Most clostridial soft-tissue infections, including gangrene, are caused by Clostridium perfringens. The criticality of this disease is that once infected it can develop in few hours or even in a day, but the fact is often it is seen to appear after several days. Puncture wounds and surgical wounds, especially GI surgeries done on the biliary tract or intestinal surgeries, are causes of clostridial infections due to inadvertent inoculation of the surgical wound with gut bacteria. In case the disease spreads to a few more regions/area of the body then there might be chances of survival following surgical removal of an arm or leg or the infected area to control the spread of infection in the body.