Fillmore Patient Fights ‘Flesh-Eating’ Bacteria : Medicine: The 63-year-old woman is transferred to hospital in Thousand Oaks for emergency therapy to fend off the infection.

A Fillmore woman suffering from the so-called “flesh-eating bacteria” was rushed into emergency therapy Friday to stop the spread of the dangerous strep infection.

Guadalupe Polido, 63, entered Santa Paula Memorial Hospital a week ago with fever, nausea and a pimple on her left thigh, family members said. By Friday, the pimple had grown into an open sore stretching from her groin to her knee.

Polido was transported to Los Robles Regional Medical Center in Thousand Oaks and placed immediately in a pressurized chamber, where she was given doses of pure oxygen to fortify the surrounding flesh and tissue so it will fend off the spread of bacteria.

“What we’re doing here is not only treating the patient, but we are preserving the tissue, so that she won’t have to undergo amputation,” said J.B. Wilmeth, the internal medicine physician supervising her treatment at Los Robles.

Wilmeth said he did not know how Polido encountered the dangerous mixture of streptococcus bacteria and other germs. But he said the woman’s age and the fact that she suffers from diabetes makes her particularly susceptible to infections.

Earlier this month, a 35-year-old triathlete from Santa Barbara lost most of the flesh on his left leg, and could have lost his life, from a strain of the dangerous bacteria. The episode, he said Friday, also began with a pimple.

Polido’s case is the first that Ventura County health officials have heard of this year, but they noted that physicians are not required to report instances of the disorder.

Wilmeth said that Los Robles treats about five to eight cases a year, including patients from Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo. He said he recalls three cases so far in 1994.

The disorder has gained notoriety in recent weeks after a spate of deaths in England and a flurry of media attention to cases throughout the United States.

The fact that the bacteria has turned up in Ventura County should not be cause for alarm, health officials said Friday.

“There’s no reason to be paranoid about it,” Ventura County Public Health Officer Gary Feldman said. “The germs are ubiquitous. Every surface on the planet is covered with microorganisms.”

The problem develops when there is a breakdown, a cut in the flesh or a lapse in the immune system, that allows infection to flourish.

Polido began feeling sick about two weeks ago, said her daughter, Lupe Medina of Fillmore. After a week of vomiting and fever, Polido was admitted to the Santa Paula hospital Sunday.

Doctors were puzzled by the sore on her leg that would not heal, Wilmeth said. They performed surgery Thursday night and realized that they were dealing with the bacterial phenomenal known as necrotizing fasciitis and cellulitis.

In a matter of hours, the sore spread down to Polido’s knee and across her leg, he said. Shortly after noon Friday, Polido arrived by ambulance at Los Robles for treatment in a special hyperbaric chamber.

The cylindrical chamber is also used for divers suffering “the bends,” decompression sickness that occurs when the body changes pressure too quickly. In this case, it was used to deliver a 1 1/2-hour dose of pure oxygen.

Wilmeth twisted the dials, adjusting the atmosphere to the pressure of seawater 50 to 60 feet deep. A technician inside the chamber slipped a mask over Polido’s face and she began breathing 100% oxygen.

The oxygen kills certain bacteria and makes the antibiotics work more efficiently, Wilmeth said. It also makes the unaffected tissue around the wound healthier and more resistant to the spread of infection.

The sore, he said, spread from her left thigh down to her knee and extends deep into the muscle lining and muscle. It has also begun to affect her torso and may have moved into her bloodstream, according to preliminary tests.

Wilmeth classified Polido’s condition as critical, but said she appeared healthier after the first treatment.

“She’s very scared,” Medina said of her mother. “She didn’t know until this morning how serious it was.” Also, she said the spreading sore is causing her mother pain.

Medina said she was frightened by the diagnosis. “I didn’t even understand what it was,” she said. She was vaguely aware of the recent media attention to the disorder. “Sometimes you don’t pay attention to it. It’s never going to happen to you.”

Vanessa Palmer at the Fillmore Flower Shop was surprised to hear of Polido’s diagnosis. She delivered a spring bouquet to the woman on Thursday at the Santa Paula hospital.

“I probably would have left them in the front had I known that,” Palmer said. “I’m not going to worry about it, but I’m going to check myself more.”

The flesh-eating bacteria is not contagious, but it does exist in most environments, doctors say. Anyone with a stubborn sore that will not heal should seek medical attention, Wilmeth said.

The rest of the public, he added, should not panic. “We’ve been dealing with the disorder for many years,” he said. “There’s no question the infection has been around.”

The first cases were noted in the 1920s, before antibiotics were available to treat it. Doctors trace the disorder to a variety of bacteria. Santa Barbara triathlete Bernard Donner is suffering from a Group A streptococcus infection, while Polido shows signs of Group B strep and other bacteria.

With the discovery of penicillin, doctors successfully treated many such cases. But even today, some episodes go beyond what antibiotics can handle and require the hyperbaric treatment Polido is receiving or more drastic solutions such as amputation.

Wilmeth said he is hopeful that the treatment can stop the infection and save Polido’s leg. She could still require extensive skin grafts to replace the skin destroyed by the bacteria.

Donner received grafts to cover his sore, which spread to 2 feet long, 6 inches wide and 4 inches deep. His physician at Sherman Oaks Hospital and Burn Center, Dr. A. Richard Grossman, said about 85% of the skin grafts have taken.

Donner will have at least one more skin graft early next week and could be released by next weekend, Grossman said.

At a press conference Friday, Donner said his infection started as a pimple that resembled an ingrown hair. He began feeling lethargic, but did not connect it to the bump on his leg.

“It was never bigger than a quarter,” he told reporters. “There was never any outrageous growth or flesh deterioration. It was a little bump. It never occurred to me that within 24 hours, I could have been dead.”

Times staff writers Miguel Bustillo and Timothy Williams contributed to this story.

A Virulent Disorder

Popularly called “flesh-eating bacteria,” the disorder necrotizing fasciitis is caused by a virulent strain of streptococcus and other germs. Despite recent media attention, the problem is not new or even more widely reported, health officials say.

The condition develops when the body succumbs to any of a series of dangerous bacterial infections. The bacteria exists in most environments. It attacks the body when there is a breakdown, either a cut in the skin or a lapse in the immune system.

The warning signs include a sore that will not heal or that changes dramatically. Some victims suffer fever, nausea, lethargy and other flu-like symptoms. Anyone dealing with a persistent sore should contact a physician.