Month: July 2014

“Doctor develops simple treatment for flesh-eating disease” is a headline that will catch your eye, if you’ve ever been through the torturous, almost medieval treatment required to arrest necrotizing fasciitis. It looks as if Dr. John Crew is onto something:

Typically, necrotizing fasciitis is treated with heavy doses of intravenous antibiotics, along with extensive surgery to remove dead tissue.

Crew’s technique keeps the antibiotics but tries to avoid the repeated surgeries. Doctors irrigate wounds from necrotizing fasciitis with a solution of hypochlorous acid that was developed by NovaBay Pharmaceuticals in Emeryville, then drain the wound with a negative-pressure vacuum apparatus.

You can read more about the treatment in this informative article.

The National Necrotizing Fasciitis Foundation is working with Dr. Crew to get the word out:

MEDINA, Ohio, June 25, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — The National Necrotizing Fasciitis Foundation (NNFF) today announced a campaign to raise awareness of the tragic inadequacy of the current standard of care for necrotizing fasciitis, or ‘flesh-eating’ infection —and to push for the adoption of new treatments for this deadly condition. “Too many people are losing their lives or their limbs because the current standard of care simply doesn’t work,” said Jacqueline Roemmele, executive director of the NNFF. “But there is a promising new treatment that doctors can adopt.”