- A college student with a bruise on his leg got sick during a wrestling tournament.
- The bruise turned out to be a rare "flesh-eating" infection.
A college wrestler spent weeks in hospital after being infected with a rare "flesh-eating" bacteria that almost cost him his leg.
Peyton Robb, 23, from Owatonna, Minnesota, initially thought he had a regular bruise on his shin, but he was later diagnosed with necrotizing fasciitis, a bacterial infection most commonly caused by strep A, which spreads quickly and can be deadly, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Robb — a keen wrestler since he was four years old — was competing in a wrestling tournament for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln on March 17 when he noticed the large bruise but didn't think anything of it, he told OHS Magnet, the student news site for Owatonna High School, where he graduated in 2018.
The following day, the bruise felt more tender, he kept vomiting, and he couldn't get warm.
"I thought I just had a stomach bug or something that was making me feel crumby," he told OHS Magnet.
The infection start off with a red, warm, or swollen area of skin that spreads quickly, severe pain beyond where the skin is red, and a fever, according to the CDC. Later symptoms include: ulcers, blisters, black spots on the skin, changes in skin color, pus coming from the infected area, dizziness, fatigue, diarrhea, and nausea.
Despite how he felt, Robb competed in his first fight of the day.
After the fight, he was still vomiting and started shaking uncontrollably so medically forfeited the tournament, and placed sixth in the country.
Later that evening, still feeling unwell, Robb visited the ER where he was diagnosed with strep cellulitis — a bacterial skin infection — which he was given antibiotics for.
The following day he was still vomiting and was struggling to walk, so he returned to the ER where medics told him he was in septic shock, had acute heart and kidney failure, and his blood pressure was very low while his resting heart rate was very high. The CDC said serious complications are common and, like Robb, others with necrotizing fasciitis also experience sepsis, shock, and organ failure.
"Looking back, I probably should've been more scared," he told wrestling podcast The Bader Show on April 18.
Robb was rushed into surgery after doctors saw black blisters on his leg
When doctors got his vitals back to a normal level, they saw Robb had black blisters on parts of his leg and rushed him into surgery 30 minutes later. He was told he might have to have the lower part of his leg removed.
It is common for necrotizing fasciitis patients to have surgery performed very quickly because the infection spreads rapidly, according to the CDC.
Robb had five surgeries — it is also common for necrotizing fasciitis patients to have multiple surgeries — to remove the infection.
It wasn't until after his surgeries that he was officially diagnosed with necrotizing fasciitis.
Necrotizing fasciitis is caused by bacteria entering the body through a break in the skin, such as a cut, burn, insect bite, puncture or surgical wound, or in some cases by blunt trauma where the skin isn't broken. Anyone can get it but those with a weakened immune system, such as cancer patients or people with kidney disease, are most at risk.
It's not clear how the infection entered Robb's body but it's thought that bacteria from a wrestling mat entered a cut.
After Robb's initial operations, he had sessions in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber — where extra oxygen helps the body heal from infections quicker — and was waiting to have skin grafts on his leg, he told The Bader Show.
Robb told local outlet KCCI that he is recovering and hopes to get back to wrestling soon.