Boy Dies of a Flesh-Eating Bacteria Days After Falling off Bike

An eight-year-old boy in Oregon has died just days after contracting a flesh-eating bacteria [...]

By Allison Schonter

An eight-year-old boy in Oregon has died just days after contracting a flesh-eating bacteria following a fall while on his bike.

Liam Flanagan, a second grader, passed away on Sunday, Jan. 21, after contracting necrotizing faciitis after he fell off of his bike on Saturday, Jan. 13, the Daily Mail reports. The fall resulted in the handlebars slicing through his jeans and cutting his thigh, and despite going to the hospital and having the wound cleaned and stitched, Flanagan's condition worsened in the following days.

"It was purplish-red and gangrenous looking," the eight-year-old's stepfather, Scott Hinkle, said of the inflamed growth on Flanagan's groin. "We threw him in the rig and went like hell."

On Wednesday, Jan. 17, the eight-year-old was admitted into the hospital, where he was diagnosed with necrotizing faciitis, a flesh-eating bacteria. Doctors tirelessly worked to prevent the spread of the infection, spending hours in surgery cutting away infected tissues, before the child was transferred to Doernbecher Children's Hospital in Portland on Jan. 18. There, doctors attempted to stay ahead of the infection by amputating parts of Flanagan's body.

"Almost his whole right side was gone," Sara Hebard, the eight-year-old's mother, said. "They kept cutting and hoping. Cutting and hoping."

On Sunday, Flanagan was transferred to a specialist unit at Randall Children's Hospital, where he died hours later.

Necrotizing faciitis, a flesh-eating bacteria that kills the body's soft tissue, can be deadly, with roughly 25% of patients dying from infection. Symptoms of the bacteria typically present as symptoms of other illnesses or injuries, such as the flu or a pulled muscle, and include fever, sore throat, chills, fatigue, and vomiting, according to the CDC. Skin typically becomes warm and those infected may develop ulcers, blisters, or black spots on the skin. Surgery is often needed to remove dead tissue.

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