Canadian woman with TEN fights for life

December 5th, 2008 by Jennifer Walker-Journey

Canadian Kim was bitten by a feral cat while working at her job as an animal control officer for the city of St. John’s, Newfoundland. The bite began to swell and become infected, so she received a tetanus shot and a round of antibiotics.

Within days, everything changed. Kim started having severe headaches and then target-like blotches sprang up on her skin.

The mother of two is now in a coma and on a ventilator, her body wrapped in antibiotic gauze. The severe reaction to the antibiotics has left her without skin on 70 percent of her body. Doctors have given her a 50 percent change of surviving, according to Canada.com.

Kim was diagnosed with toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN), a severe form of Stevens Johnson Syndrome (SJS), in which the top layer of skin peels off causing painful blisters and lesions.  and TEN are most often triggered by drugs such as ibuprofen, antibiotics and anticonvulsants. TEN most severely affects the mucous membranes such as the eyes and mouth causing painful blisters that make eating painful and can cause blindness.

Doctors say now is the most critical time for Kim as the skin loss makes her more prone to infections from fungi and bacteria that can lead to septicemia, the leading cause of death with TEN. Kim’s family is scared to even go into her room for fear of contaminating her. The best news for now is that Kim’s eyes have not been affected, nor are there any signs of organ problems.

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This entry was posted on Friday, December 5th, 2008 at 8:00 am and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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    It is very sad to hear Kim's story. Whom should we blame for this, the cat or antibiotics?

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    It is very sad to hear Kim's story. Whom should we blame for this, the cat or antibiotics?

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