Woman Loses Arm to Flesh-Eating Bacteria Following Injection of �Bath Salts�

Flesh-eating bacteria were the cause of infection in a woman who used the drug "Bath Salts," doctors have revealed.

The 34-year-old woman was a patient in the emergency room at the Louisiana Health Sciences Center in August 2011. At presentation her arm was painfully swollen. She was started on intravenous antibiotics, which reduced the intensity of her issue, but this did not happen quickly enough.

Dr. Robert Russo, an orthopedic resident at the hospital said that on questioning, the woman revealed that she used drugs. The doctor told ABC News that they had to amputate the woman's arm and right breast as the bacteria kept spreading at a rapid rate.

Dr Russo is unsure how the bacteria got into the woman's system via the drugs that she used, "Just from people using more needles, you could see a rise in these kinds of cases," he said. "And the risks of using this drug, it's not just getting your arm taken off. The drug is crazy."

The report of this case has been published in the journal Orthopedics.

Source: Medindia