Published on October 16, 2006 at 6:41 AM
Three elderly patients in a hospital in Christchurch, New Zealand, have died from a rare flesh-eating bacteria.
Their deaths have raised concerns that the infection could spread and claim more lives.
According to authorities the three patients, two men and a woman, died within a day or two of developing the infection.
New Zealand health authorities say the affected geriatric ward at Princess Margaret Hospital has been isolated to try to prevent further infections after doctors identified necrotising fasciitis as the deadly infection.
Necrotising infections destroy muscles, fat and skin and can cause streptococcal toxic shock syndrome, which leads to organ failure, plummeting blood pressure and rapid death.
The Group A streptococcus bacteria is usually the cause of such infections but other bacteria can also be involved.
The hospital ward has 19 surviving patients and as many as 40 staff members and all have been treated with antibiotics as a precaution and tests are being carried out.
Authorities say between 10 to 15 isolated cases of the subcutaneous infection are diagnosed annually in New Zealand, but this was the first time multiple cases were believed to be linked in a related outbreak.
Staff at the hospital remain very concerned as it is likely the infection was spread by someone within the hospital who may be carrying the organism in their throat and has passed the infection on to the patients.