Florida Man Catches Flesh-Eating Infection After His Relative Bites His Leg

• Note to self, don’t let people bite you — even if they’re your relatives.

Fights between family members can get nasty. But they rarely involve necrotic limbs caused by flesh-eating bacteria.

Unless, of course, you’re in Florida. Everything’s possible in that mad Wonderland.

Donnie Adams from Riverview had to step in to break up a tussle at a family gathering earlier this year. One of the fighting relatives somehow managed to bite him on his leg.

Fast-forward less than a week, and the 52-year-old was in the hospital. Flesh-eating bacteria had ravaged his leg and begun rotting it from the inside.

To save his limb — not to mention his life — doctors ended up cutting away 70% of the flesh on the front of Adams’ thigh.

Still, he can count himself lucky. Albeit heavily scarred, he got to keep his leg.

“I would’ve never imagined that a human bite would turn into something so horrific as a flesh-eating bacteria,” Adams told WFLA.

‘I Need to Take You to the Operating Room’

On February 12 of this year, Adams was attending a family event when things came to a head between two of his relatives. He didn’t go into the details, but long story short, he got bitten on his left thigh.

Two days later, he noticed a small bump at the spot where his relative had sunk their teeth. The bite was also starting to get painful, so he went to a hospital.

The doctors gave him a tetanus shot and antibiotic. Yet, his leg didn’t start getting any better.

Quite the opposite, in fact.

“By the third day, my leg was very sore,” said Adams. “I couldn’t walk, it was very warm and very painful.”

Now, in case you didn’t know, pain and high localized body temperature are telltale signs of infection — and not a mild one. So, Adams went back to the hospital, and not a moment too soon.

Examining his leg, the doctors made a small incision. Out from Adams’ thigh oozed a gray stinking liquid, which meant his leg was undergoing necrotizing fasciitis.

Essentially, his flesh was dying and rotting under his skin.

“I looked at him and I said to him that I need to take you to the operating room,” said Dr. Fritz Brink, an osteopathic physician at HCA Florida Pasadena Hospital in St. Pete.

The Rot Within

Adams took the news that his leg was basically dying off surprisingly well.

“They assessed my wound and it was very horrific. It was unbelievable,” admitted Adams.

“But in my mind, I just had to get through whatever this was.”

Before Dr. Brink put Adams under in the operating room, he warned him that he would likely come out of the operating with a relatively big wound. After he got to work, though, he realized he had seriously underestimated the damage.

Nearly all of Adams’ thigh had been infected by the bacteria. What flesh hadn’t already turned black and died was bright red and rotting.

That left Dr. Brink with a difficult decision.

“You’re torn between being as aggressive as you can be to stop the infection from spreading and leaving as much tissue behind so that it won’t take two years to heal,” Dr. Brink explained to Tampa Bay Times.

Despite not necessarily going all in, Dr. Brink had to slice away 70% of the flesh in the front of Adams’ thigh. He also required a follow-up operation to remove parts that hiding bacteria had spread to again.

Yet, Adams got off easy. If he had come to the hospital a day later, he may have lost his leg — or his life.

Dr. Brink said that by the next day, the infection could have spread into Adams’ abdomen and sent him into sepsis.

“It would have been tough to get control of the infection,” he summarized.

‘The Beauty of the Aftermath’

Following the surgery, Adams spent three weeks in the hospital recovering. He’s still facing a six-month treatment regime to regrow the flesh he lost.

Dr. Brink is using a process called wound VAC to help Adams’ leg heal. It involves stuffing a sponge into the wound, sealing it with basically a plastic wrap, and then sucking out all air from the wrapping.

Somehow that helps the body to build up new blood vessels and regrow the flesh. Look, we’re not medical professionals, we’ll just take Dr. Brink’s word on it.

Adams himself doesn’t remember feeling a bite during the family fight. However, according to Dr. Brink, there’s really no other way his leg could’ve gotten infected.

“A human bite is dirtier than a dog bite as far as the kinds of bacteria that grows. Normal bacteria in an abnormal spot can be a real problem,” he said.

As such, Adams now encourages everyone to have doctors check even small wounds.

“You don’t know what is going on underneath. It could be something that is life-threatening,” he said.

Adams has recovered the use of his leg and is able to walk, albeit with occasional pain. There is a spiderweb of fresh scar tissue on his thigh — but he sees the silver linings on it.

“What you see now, you see not just a scar, but the beauty of the aftermath. I’m grateful to have my leg and for the care I received,” Adams said.

That’s a pretty great attitude to have after almost losing your leg to a filthy human bite.