Southland hypochondriacs, beware: If the West Nile "epidemic" had you suspiciously eyeing crows, monitoring County vector reports, and suspecting every cough and cold as a harbinger of doom,
Do Not read on.
Those of you who thrill to accounts of rare and deadly diseases that would not be out of place in science fiction films of the 1950's, please
Do read on.
Doctors in Torrance are
reporting an uptick in cases of the occasionally fatal, always terrifyingly named
necrotizing fasciitis, otherwise known as
flesh-eating disease.
This virulent little bacteria has developed quite a resistance to antibiotics, it seems, and has been reported in 14 patients at County Harbor-UCLA Medical Center (none of whom, thankfully, have succumbed to the necrosis).
Creepy, huh?
One can hear the movie trailer announcer now, a voice booming out at an audience of small, crew-cutted boys in striped shirts, and jeans rolled up at the cuff:
"The most terrifying threat to Mankind comes not from Outer Space, or from the frigid wastes of Red Russia! It comes from a Microscopic beast with an insatiable appetite for Human Flesh, a beast that has risen from the overuse of that Modern Medical Marvel - antibiotics! Thrill! To the irony of Scientists laid low by their own creation! Chill! To the horrifying sight of the unfortunate victims of this Miniscule Monster! Feel! Your skin crawl with Terror - or is it the first signs of
The Incredible Man-Eating Microbe? (
Coming Soon to this Fine Theater)."
