BRIEFS. health

Bacterial infection linked to woman’s death

la prensa

distraught: Children of Bartola Chavarría want authorities to look into how their mother contracted a flesh-eating bacteria. 1118878

A 93-year-old woman died after apparently contracting a flesh-eating bacterial infection while at the Hospital Dionisio Arrocha de Puerto Armuelles, in the Chiriquí province.

Some of Bartola Chavarría’s 11 surviving children have demanded that authorities investigate the reason behind their mother’s death.

“My mother was admitted with low glucose levels,” said daughter Mayra Bermúdez. “After a month of being hospitalized and isolated, we knew that a bacteria had caused a terrible infection.”

Bermúdez and two of her sisters, explained that Chavarría the bacteria appeared to have produced a wound on her buttocks that gradually ate away at tissues, forcing doctors “to cut away much of the flesh” in that area. “To visit her, we had to wear gloves and hygienic caps. No one has explained to us what happened or how she was infected,” insisted Bermúdez.

Hospital medical director Onésimo Alanis refused to respond to enquiries about the case. And Manuel Nassa, regional director of Epidemiology for the Social Security Agency, denied that conditions at the hospital constituted a health hazard.

“The woman was given a test that found that she brought the bacteria from her home and was not infected at the hospital,” he said.