A Florida man who contracted a flesh-eating bacterial infection died on Thursday despite extraordinary efforts to save him, including stripping a quarter of his skin.
What first seemed like a mild flu two weeks ago thrust 50-year-old David Ireland into a fight for his life and a series of desperate operations.
He was diagnosed with necrotizing fasciitis week before last, stripped of over 25 percent of his skin over three surgeries, fell into kidney failure and then a coma.
But the infection spread too fast and violently, and Ireland at last succumbed – as do 25 to 30 percent of patients – late last week.
After flesh-eating bacteria started killing his tissue, a Florida man had to have a quarter of the skin removed from his entire body in order to keep him alive.
David Ireland (left) has had to have 25% of his skin stripped off after contracting a flesh-eating bacterial infection. Pictured with his wife, Jody and daughters Rebekah and Ruth
‘He fought very hard against this disease and all of us will miss him dearly,’ wrote Ireland’s brother, Daniel, on a GoFundMe page he set up for the family.
‘He meant the world to all of us.’
It’s not clear where Ireland might have picked up the infection, but similar ones are on the rise, particularly in Florida, where Ireland lives.
Flesh-eating infections can be caused by many bacteria, although the phrase most commonly refers to Streptococcus bacteria.
These naturally live in warm coastal waters, like those surrounding Florida, and mostly coexist peacefully with humans and other animals.
However, as temperatures rise, more waters become optimal for the bacteria to multiply and thrive.
The more bacteria there are, the more easily they can overwhelm the immune system, especially of someone with a compromised immune system or who is very young or very old.
Since Friday, Ireland (pictured) has been in a medically-induced coma
Infections become ‘flesh-eating’ – a loose term for the ability of these bacteria to kill tissue – when they get into the bloodstream through an open wound or cut.
And they may be on the rise as temperatures are, especially in places like Florida that are already hospitable to Strep and other potentially flesh-eating bacteria.
It isn’t if Ireland had a pre-existing condition that may have weakened his immune system, or perhaps an open wound through which the bacteria could have entered his blood stream.
His condition deteriorated so quickly that his family didn’t have a chance to learn much about what had happened to him.
For a few days,Jody, brother, Daniel, and daughters, Ruth and Rebecca, saw signs of hope in David’s vitals.
‘His blood pressure and acid numbers from his liver are starting to level off, showing a hopeful sign of recovery,’ wrote Daniel an a Go Fund Me page he set up to benefit the Ireland and his family.
But last Monday, Jody wrote that she’d learned David would have to get a reversible colostomy, rerouting his bowels out of his body to keep fecal matter from contaminating his open wounds.
‘I miss my best friend’: Ireland’s wife, Jody (right) said his situation is still dire, but that he has shown signs of improvement that make her hopeful he’ll recover from the infection
While they operated, Jody said that the surgeons would check for any leftover vestiges of the infection.
The family has not disclosed any more about the outcome of that surgery or the evens leading up to Ireland’s death.
But even before he passed away, Jody wrote of the hold that would be left in her life without her husband.
‘I miss my best friend very much and pray every day that God will spare his life and bring him back home to me and our children,’ she wrote on the GoFundMe page on August 25.
‘My life isn’t the same without him.’