Two women who had flesh-eating disease criticize public health

Two Yarmouth-area women who underwent surgery to combat flesh-eating disease have doubts about public health response

The episode raises questions about public health messaging in the age of social media, an expert says.

Kelly Doucet, who lives in Hebron, Nova Scotia, thought she had the flu when she started getting sick last month. It was her mother who encouraged her to go to Yarmouth Regional Hospital after hearing about a couple who died from complications of invasive group A streptococcus.

I knew it was in the provinceshe says. I wasn’t really aware of the symptoms, signs or severity of the infection.

She ultimately needed surgery to treat a flesh-eating disease and almost lost her arm. And while the Yarmouth Hospital team was excellent, they found the public health response disappointing.

I got more information from the Internet than when someone called me in my hospital bed notes Kelly Doucet.

Her grandson, who had stayed at her house a few days before, was treated with a preventative antibiotic, but not her daughter, who is the boy’s mother, did not receive any antibiotics and ended up in the hospital with it. which she believes to be a complication due to a strep infection.

When I was lying in bed after the operation, my daughter was going to the outpatient clinicsays Kelly Doucet, still in shock. It was the worst 24 hours of my life.

Second case of flesh-eating disease

Crystal Dillon, who lives in Brooklyn, Nova Scotia, says her family was not contacted after she was hospitalized with a flesh-eating illness following an invasive group A streptococcal infection. was presented to the hospital for the first time, she waited 7 hours before returning home discouraged.

After seven hours I left, I couldn’t sit stillsays Crystal Dillon, who returned to the hospital two days later, where she underwent surgery.

She believes there should have been more information communicated to the community about invasive strep infections in the community.

People should have at least been informed so they wouldn’t be afraid to find out I had it.

Viral social media post

An anonymous Facebook post, which claims to have been written by a nurse, was published more than a week after the two women arrived at the hospital. The message said there were five active cases of flesh-eating disease at the hospital. And it was shared by thousands of users.

Nova Scotia Health later issued a statement saying its information was inaccurate, and that the claims had sparked unnecessary worry .

But both women found the message provided valuable information about the level of infection in the community.

Frustration with the health-care system likely explains in part why the message has spread widely, according to Robert Huish, associate professor of international development studies at Dalhousie University.

This rumor becomes an outlet for frustration in the management of public healthhe said.

Public health must now try to find ways to anticipate rumors on social media.

Dr. Robert Strang, the province’s chief medical officer of health, says there is a lack of trust in science and public health, especially since the pandemic.

We need to work with the general public to help them understand that there is a lot of misinformation out therehe says.

He specifies that the rates slightly increased of invasive group A streptococci have been communicated appropriately.

As of May 2, Nova Scotia Health had reported 61 cases of invasive group A strep infections, and about half of them were classified as serious infections. There have been 12 deaths across the province.

Invasive group A streptococcal infections occur when usually harmless streptococcal bacteria invade parts of the body where they are not normally found. This can lead to complications such as flesh-eating disease, meningitis, and even death.

There is no evidence to suggest that there is an increased concern for invasive Group A Strep in the Yarmouth area compared to anywhere in the rest of Nova Scotiaadds Robert Strang.

With information from Luke Ettinger