The Menace of Flesh-Eating Bacterial Infections in Human Health: A Case Study of Enugu East Senatorial Zone of Enugu State Nigeria.

Abstract

Flesh-eating bacterial infection (also known as necrotizing fasciitis) caused by different bacterial groups is a disease that results in the death of the parts of the body affected. A close relative of the researcher with a type II diabetic immunosuppressed condition suffered from flesh-eating bacterial infection. Efforts to curb the spread of the infection with antibiotics were futile which led to the amputation of the affected body part and ultimately prompted the research work. The research was aimed therefore; at evaluating the general impact of the disease on human health, to ascertain the effects on immunosuppressed individuals, to determine the predominant type of infection in the designated area to know the prevalence among the people, as well as to raise awareness about the infection. Survey design was used in the research. The simple random sampling was used to select the sample. The instrument for data collection was structured questionnaires. The questionnaires were developed based on the objectives of the research work experienced. The result showed that out of 240 people examined 57(23.7%) were infected by flesh-eating bacterial infections with high prevalence on people 71-80 years old (53%) followed by 61-70 years (50%), 41-52 years (35%), 31-40 years (33%) while people between 10-30 years are very less infected. Out of the 57 individuals having the infections, 42(73.7%) were immunosuppressed. The screening result showed that 40(70%) out of the 57 infected individuals suffered from Type I, 17(30%) patients suffered from Type II while none were positive for Type III infection. 34(28%) out of 120 males examined have flesh-eating bacterial infection as against 23 (19.2%) out of 120 females examined. Therefore, from the results, Type I is the most predominant type of infection with noted higher rate in immunosuppressed individuals and people above 60 years. Though higher rate of the infection was found in males than in females, it is not very significant due to the low margin of difference. The contributions to knowledge from the research are: that diabetics showed significant correlation to flesh-eating bacterial disease, that inadequate diagnosis and treatment could lead to more advanced form of the disease.