necrotizing fasciitis

aka flesh-eating bacteria. no, don't panic, eliot hasn't come down with this too. he's fine; his anal sphincter is just peachy.

but some other folks in town aren't so lucky.

last week my colleague tawny told me of a report she typed in which a boy's face was eaten away. he got a cut on his lip and within days his face was gone. it wasn't clear he would survive. this morning i see this article in the local paper (online) - a woman died of it. and my second report of the day today was of another woman of about the same age who died too. you can get a little cut, it gets infected (aka septic), the infection spreads rapidly, and you die. essentially. here's more (from canada!). scary in a pretty big way. that's three cases in this area in a week!

be careful is what i'm saying. wash your hands.

i thought about attaching a photo but they're just horrible to look at, even for me. but if you're feeling sturdy and want to look at some, here's choices. i leave it to you.