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. 2020 May 9;8(1):54-56.
doi: 10.2478/jtim-2020-0009. eCollection 2020 Mar.

Clostridium Perfringens in Gas Gangrene: Still a Smoked Gun!

Thierry Preseau  1 , Jacques Deviendt  2 , Ruth Duttman  3 , Rachid Attou  2 , Diane Franck  4 , Ruben Claeys  4 , Patrick M Honoré  2 , David De Bels  2
Affiliations

Clostridium Perfringens in Gas Gangrene: Still a Smoked Gun!

Thierry Preseau et al. J Transl Int Med. .

Abstract

Gas gangrene (GG) remains a life-threatening and deadly disease. Early recognition together with daily surgical debridement remains the mainstay of therapy. We sought to describe a fatal case of necrotizing soft tissue infection, which was a gas gagrene in this case. This case was remarkable as two main sites were infected simultaneously in geographical zones very far from each other making dissemination between both sites almost impossible. The other particularity was the fact that the infection was caused at the same time by four different bacteria that is atypical in GG similar to that in streptoccocal necrotizing fasciitis where one bacteria is the causative agent (Clostridium perfringens for GG and group A streptococcus for necrotizing fasciitis).

Keywords: bifocal; gas gangrene; polymicrobial.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest Conflict of Interests: The authors declare to have no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Chest X-ray showing soft tissue swelling with internal gas density predominant on the right chest wall.
Figure 2
Figure 2
(a) CT scan showing massive infestation of the bilateral thoracic wall with sucutaneous emphysema. (b) CT scan showing massive myolysis of the left thigh with subcutaneous emphysema.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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