January 24, 2009
The beautiful model Mariana Bridi da Costa, her hands and feet amputated to treat necrosis, caused by septicemia...
... has died. This began as a urinary tract infection. Such a common thing!
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22 comments:
How sad. Her poor family. I had no idea that it was that common.
UTI's are very common, but the specific infective bacteria in Bridi's case - Pseudomonas aeruginosa - is not. And such infections not being caught in time to prevent the blod from going septic is also not very common, as far as I know (anyone knowing more about this than I can either clarify or correct me).
I have no idea why the infection was able to take hold for this person - maybe she didn't go to the doctor immediately, or maybe the misdiagnosis of kidney stones (since the UTI eventually made its way to the kidneys) delayed things too long - but I get the feeling that other than the fact this started out as a UTI, that this is a rather unique set of circumstances.
Maybe one of the resident physicians like Pogo could shed more light. I'm no doctor, so better information, especially if it corrects anything I might have gotten wrong, is welcome.
I was told earlier today by Ron. RIP.
I blogged about it a few days ago, including sharing some thoughts about surgerical procedures outside of Anglo-Saxon countries (including Brazil).
Cheers,
Victoria
Thank God we have good medical care here, and pray that Barack's plans do not include spreading around so much government administered health care that the it's quality is all but gone. The American drug industry's ever better and better Miracle drugs, only since 1945, are the reason life expectancy has gone from 43 to 82, which is also a mixed blessing if you only look at our Ponzi-Schemed Social Security Trust Fund we expect so much from. Somebody better think about favoring Families who breed babies quickly. And my Thanks to all you breeders out there.
From what little I know, Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a very common bacterium and an opportunistic pathogen that is notoriously resistant to many antibiotics for both structural reasons and, more worryingly, because it easily mutates into more resistant strains. It's often the cause of "hot tub rash" from poorly-maintained hot tubs and like so many other nasty, resistant bacteria, is common in hospitals (especially from poorly sterilized catheters). Bacterial infections can quickly get out of control, and especially aggressive and resistant strains. I know because I had several nasty bouts with MRSA several years ago, and it took a while to find an antibiotic that it responded to, which turned out to be an older 'sulfa' drug, Bactrim. But the infection happened so fast, and got worse very, very quickly. I don't know this model's health history, but it's even more dangerous if you're already immunocompromised. Sad story.
At 20?! That's horrible. That's the very beginning of striking out on your own life.
At 20?! That's horrible. That's the very beginning of striking out on your own life.
I have Globo Int'l, and heard her father's reaction. You've never seen a man so crushed...
traditionalguy said...
Thank God we have good medical care here, and pray that Barack's plans do not include spreading around so much government administered health care that the it's quality is all but gone. The American drug industry's ever better and better Miracle drugs, only since 1945, are the reason life expectancy has gone from 43 to 82, which is also a mixed blessing if you only look at our Ponzi-Schemed Social Security Trust Fund we expect so much from.
If you read the story Althouse linked to, she came from a family that wanted "life at all costs". In addition to her hands and feet, in the "heroic battle" - they also removed her bladder, BOTH her kidneys, and a large portion of her stomach.
As for the US system vs. what the rest of modern, advanced nations have, we have a lower life expectancy, pay 50% more for each citizen, and have an even greater unfunded financial liability than the Asians or Europeans because of exploding medical costs far exceeding the global rate. (Which not only makes Medicare and Medicaid unsustainable given current payroll deductions, but most free market!! employee health care plans that make the cost of our goods and services uncompetitive on a global market).
Contrary to popular conservative belief that life expectancy is linked to "miracle drugs that only the genius of the private sector can do..." greater life expectency is more linked to healthier lifestyles, better nutrition, improved sanitation, advances in medicine coming from universities around the globe that are not funded by Big Pharma - but by taxpayers and alumni and foundations. Most of the big drugs (cholesterol, beta blockers, improved anesthesia and pain meds, blood thinners, hypertension medicine, antibiotics) responsible for 80% of net life extension related to better drugs come from basic university research in the USA, Japan, UK, France over the years - that big drug companies then seek to exploit and advance to a usable product.
In terms of our obligated future debt, SS is the piddling component for the private sector payout for each employee, and government. (8 trillion in future SS obligations, vs. 32 trillion for healthcare, with our present form of government has doubled our direct national debt under Bush and his tax cuts to 9 trillion)
The scary part of the coming mess caring for retirees and the poor is out-of-control American medical costs. Which have also hit the private sector and the self-employed - where the cost of private medical insurance has doubled in the 8 years Bush was in office.
As Ponzi schemes go, SS is on the scale of the Chinese entrepreneur recently executed for bilking 10s of millions from small investors in a turtle-breeding scam. While worker retiree employee health insurance and Medicare and Medicaid are Bernie Madoff scale Ponzis.
Shorter Cedarford: ZE VEEK UND ZEE OLD SHALL BE SLAUGHTERED!!
Oh, and no Cedarford comment is complete without a good, long, boring, wordy dose of:
AMERIKKKA SUX!!! YAY AUTHORITARIAN SOCIALISM!!!!1
"Palladian said...
From what little I know, Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a very common bacterium..."
I might have misread the WebMD article when I said that it wasn't. When I saw your post, I went back to make sure I remembered it correctly, and here's what it said:
"Bridi da Costa's case is a "terrible situation," but pseudomonas infection causing a urinary tract infection is "exceedingly rare" in young, healthy people in the U.S., says Michael Phillips, MD, a hospital epidemiologist at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York."
So I might have misspoken (or more accurately, misposted): Pseudomonas may not be rare at all, but rather having it cause a UTI is considered rare.
"As for the US system vs. what the rest of modern, advanced nations have, we have a lower life expectancy,"
Skewed somewhat by the way live births are reported here and elsewhere.
Is it known that Pseudomonas aeruginosa was the cause of her UTI, and not a secondary infection that she picked up in the hospital? IIRC that's the cause of death for a lot of burn patients.
Terrible. So very sad.
And I know that this will probably sound terrible too, but if I had to have my hands and feet amputated.....I would want to die.
"Laura(southernxyl) said...
Is it known that Pseudomonas aeruginosa was the cause of her UTI, and not a secondary infection that she picked up in the hospital? IIRC that's the cause of death for a lot of burn patients."
That's what the news organizations are reporting. I have no idea how it was determined that the Pseudomonas was the cause of her UTI. The stories don't give that level of detail.
Her beauty was freakish. So was her disease. We try to find a moral in these occurences, but there is none. Just the fickle finger of fate pushing us around.
Pseudomonas is ubiquitous, but human lethality is still rare. Researchers are currently very concerned about drug-resistant Gram-negative rods; there are not many treatment options. Gram-positives, like MRSA, have gotten all the press.
The WSJ recently published a commentary piece about healthcare workers needing to wash their scrubs and coats and how they should be forbidden from wearing them out in public. I work at a major medical school/teaching hospital and wanted to tack that article up in every elevator and bulletin board, but I'm sure I would have been fired.
One way P. aeruginosa has infected the urinary tract is by directing one of the jets of a hot tub at the clitoris.
I work at a major medical school/teaching hospital and wanted to tack that article up in every elevator and bulletin board, but I'm sure I would have been fired.
How's that again?
I blame Chinese bikini wax.
This sort of thing is one of the reasons I find the idea of a benevolent and all-powerful god ridiculous.
Revenant:
The feeling, I suspect, is mutual. ;-)
All my prayers for this beautiful woman and her family.
rhhardin at 1:43 for the win!
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