Insect Infection
Don’t you hate it when you get an insect bite and all you want to do is itch the darned thing? The temptation can be unbearable. But even doing something as innocent as itching an insect bite could lead to disaster. For one man scratching his insect bite led to the possible loss of his entire leg.
Gary Darton was enjoying a relaxing holiday with his wife in Cuba when he got bitten, and naturally decided to scratch the terrible itch. Unfortunately, he picked a terrible time to give into this awful temptation. Gary happened to be swimming in the sea when he was bitten. By scratching his insect bite he created an open wound in his leg, the perfect place for the bacteria that cause cellulitis to enter his body and infect him. What was initially a small red bump turned into a mass of blistered, swollen skin all over his leg. At one point doctors even thought they might have to amputate his leg.
Thankfully, the IV antibiotics eventually killed the bacteria and healed his infection, but his story serves as a lesson to anyone tempted to scratch an insect bite. You never know what might be lurking around to enter that seemingly tiny wound. I’ll certainly be thinking twice the next time I want to scratch my bug bites.
Have you ever gotten an infection from scratching a simple insect bite? Did you think something this terrible was possible?
