Australian woman survives case of necrotising enterocolitis from deadly pathogen

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2023-09-26 10:30

Australia; NSW

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An Australian woman has survived a case of necrotising enterocolitis from a bacterium that rarely infects humans and was previously considered lethal. Clostridium chauvoei is known to cause the fatal disease blackleg in cattle and sheep and is usually transmitted through contaminated soil. The 48-year-old woman is believed to have picked up the pathogen when gardening with cat scratches on her hands and spent a week and a half in hospital before requiring emergency surgery due to bowel damage. The researchers say they could find only two other cases of C. chauvoei in humans, and both patients died. They say their approach to treating the woman, including early antibiotics, surgery and possibly hyperbaric oxygen therapy shows the pathogen can be survivable.