Boy, 7, died from flesh-eating bacterial disease

SAN DIEGO  — A 7-year-old Texas boy who developed a rash under his arm during a family vacation to San Diego died of a flesh-eating bacterial infection, the Medical Examiner’s Office said Thursday.

Tevita Alatini died of bacterial necrotizing fasciitis after the bacteria spread into his muscle tissue.

The medical examiner listed autoimmune hemolytic anemia, a malfunction of the immune system, as a contributing condition.

Tevita died July 10 at Rady Children’s Hospital, three days after arriving in San Diego with family from Spring, Texas, north of Houston, for a reunion with relatives. An autopsy was conducted, and the cause of death was pending test results.

The boy’s uncle, Sione Niko, told the North County Times in July that the family had been at Lake O’Neill Recreational Park on the Camp Pendleton Marine Corps base on July 9 for a camping trip when Tevita became increasingly ill and developed the rash. Niko said his nephew did not swim in the lake or even go near the water.

His parents saw a large red spot under his left arm and took him to the base hospital, where doctors believed he had a severe infection and had him flown by medical helicopter to Rady Children’s, the medical examiner said.

Tevita went into medical arrest shortly after arriving at the hospital and died early the next morning.

The medical examiner’s report does not address how the boy might have developed the rare and rapidly progressing disease, which results in a destruction of tissue due to the toxins that are released by the bacteria, thus the term “flesh-eating.”

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 650 to 800 cases of flesh-eating bacteria occur in the U.S. every year. Twenty percent of those patients die.

Ten confirmed cases of bacterial necrotizing fasciitis have occurred in San Diego County this year, said Dr. Wilma Wooten, director of county public health. Eleven cases were reported in 2011.

Because physicians and hospitals are not legally required to report incidents of bacterial necrotizing fasciitis, there could have been other unconfirmed cases, Wooten said.

“The bacteria that causes this also causes many other infections. It’s responsible for strep throat,” Wooten said. “People who are older or with compromised immune systems are more at risk and more vulnerble to it.”

According to the National Necrotizing Fasciitis Foundation, the disease can be caused by various types of bacteria that usually enter the body through an opening in the skin, sometimes as small as a paper cut. The bacteria can also enter through weakened skin, like a bruise, blister or abrasion.

Prompt diagnosis is critical, and if caught early, the disease can be stopped by antibiotics before much damage is done, the foundation said.

According to the CDC, most cases occur randomly and are not linked to similar infections in others. Most people who get the disease have other health problems that lower the body’s ability to fight infection, the CDC said.