A Georgia woman fighting for her life against a flesh-eating bacteria was able to speak for the first time Sunday and is now breathing on her own. The public Facebook fan page attributed to Aimee Copeland’s father, Andy Copeland, dubbed Sunday as “Aimee Day,” as he reported his daughter’s progress.

Doctors in Nebraska tell us the bacteria has struck a half dozen people there in just the last month.

Dr. Jeff Cooper is the medical director of the hyperbaric oxygen unit at the Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha and says they have treated six patients with the disease in the past month.

Dr. Jeffery Sartin is an infectious disease specialist at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha and he says flesh eating bacteria made news back in the 1990’s.

But Sartin says it appears to have mutated and they are seeing an increase in numbers.

 

He says there are different resistant germs including the staff infection mrsa that are being treated in the state. He says there are other “odd-ball” germs like the one Copeland is suffering from that basically lives in water.

Dr. Sartin says for the most part flesh eating bacteria does not spread from one person to another but if you do have contact with one who is infected you may have that bacteria on your body. He says this is why it is important to treat all cuts and puncture wounds by keeping them clean with soap and water and then a bandage. He says if it does become infected, seek medical treatment immediately.

Dr. Sartin says symptoms include extreme pain and some discharge. He says there is swelling around the wound, a foul smell and the skin may become soft and discolored. He says those are clues there is a lot of tissue damage happening.

Dr. Cooper says 30 to 40-percent of those who contract the disease will die and the bacteria spreads rapidly. People can lose limbs and often people die of sepsis.

Copeland, a 24-year-old Georgia graduate student, cut her leg on May 1 and was on life support by May 4. When Copeland regained consciousness, much of the plugged-in world knew what she still did not: Her left leg had been amputated, skin on her abdomen had been removed and she still risked losing her right foot and all 10 fingers (she would later lose that foot and both hands).