FL Man Bitten By Relative Nearly Loses Leg To Flesh-Eating Bacteria

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — A Riverview man nearly lost his leg to flesh-eating bacteria after being bitten by a family member while breaking up a fight, according to multiple reports.

Donnie Adams found a painful, raised bump that looked like a bite on his left thigh just two days after getting in the middle of a fight between two relatives at a family get-together, according to the Tampa Bay Times. So, on Feb. 14, he went to the HCA Florida Northside Hospital in St. Petersburg, where he received a tetanus shot and antibiotics.

His leg only got worse, though, and three days later, he was undergoing emergency surgery after being rushed to the ER at HCA Florida Pasadena.

“By the third day, my leg was very sore. I couldn’t walk. It was very warm and very painful,” the 53-year-old told WESH.

Dr. Fritz Brink, an osteopathic physician at HCA Florida, told WFLA, “I looked at him and said to him that I need to take you to the operating room.”

Once in the operating room, Brink found that much of the flesh on Adam’s left thigh was rotting due to necrotizing fasciitis, a type of flesh-eating bacteria; about 70 percent of the tissue had to be removed, reports said.

A second surgery was later needed to remove additional infected tissue.

Had Adams waited much longer for treatment, he could have lost his leg, according to reports.

Brink isn’t surprised that a human bite caused the infection.

“There’s a lot of really bad bacteria that live between our teeth in our gums in our mouth,” he said.