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<ul class="summary-list"><li>A man contracted a "flesh-eating" infection, necrotizing fasciitis, after a family member bit his leg.</li><li>Donnie Adams survived, but his doctor Fritz Brink said he came close to organ failure and sepsis.</li></ul>A man narrowly survived a <a href="https://www.insider.com/narnia-actress-said-flesh-eating-infection-nearly-took-her-arm-2022-10">flesh-eating infection</a> caused by a relative biting his thigh in a kerfuffle at a family event.Donnie Adams spent three months in the hospital, with two surgeries so intense that he had to learn to walk again. He just got home (and he said his family is very sorry about what went down).His case, <a href="https://www.insider.com/man-necrotizing-fasciitis-bitten-by-family-member-2023-6">reported by Insider</a>, is alarming but not unfathomable. "A human bite can be dirtier than a dog bite," Dr. Fritz Brink, the surgeon and wound-care specialist who treated Adams at HCA Florida Northside Hospital, told Insider."There's normal bacteria everywhere. But even normal bacteria in an abnormal place creates a problem," Brink said. <h2>What is in our mouths?</h2>Human mouths contain lots of bacteria — around 700 species, according to the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6503789/">NIH</a>.Your oral microbiome is unique, affected by various factors — your <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9227938/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">diet</a>, if you <a href="https://microbiomejournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40168-018-0448-x" target="_blank" rel="noopener">drink alcohol</a> and how much, how often you <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7011102/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">brush your teeth</a>, and whether <a href="https://affiliate.insider.com?h=924820f5a12a9da08cc437c9b1bb4da13f36ec871d9154d45be52805a70d118c&amp;postID=6484a079b854d5361771b191&amp;site=in&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nature.com%2Farticles%2Fs41598-020-78295-1%23%3A~%3Atext%3Dunrelated%2520female%2520adults.-%2CThe%2520bacteria%2520highly%2520shared%2520between%2520infants%2520and%2520parents%2520included%2520not%2Ctheir%2520children%2520by%252018%2520months." target="_blank" rel="noopener">your mother</a> had gum disease. That said, most people are carrying a cocktail of Streptococcus mutans, Eubacteria, Fusobacterium, Capnocytophaga, Eubacteria, Staphylococcus, Eikenella, Lactobacillus, Leptotrichia, Peptostreptococcus, Porphyromonas gingivalis, Prevotella, Treponema, and Actinomyces genera, among other things.These bacteria live in balance, working together to keep your mouth healthy and free from infection. But bacteria that sit comfortably in your body may not be so welcome in someone else's bloodstream. <h2>How a human bite can cause a flesh-eating infection </h2>A flesh-eating infection — technically termed "necrotizing fasciitis" — is a very rare development of bacteria getting into an open wound (that includes fresh tattoos or piercings). The bacteria move fast, destroying soft tissue, and can ultimately cause sepsis and organ failure.You may have heard of people contracting these infections in <a href="https://www.insider.com/man-got-rare-flesh-eating-bacteria-after-fishing-hook-prick-2019-4">saltwater lakes</a>, <a href="https://www.insider.com/flesh-eating-bacteria-detected-in-seaweed-on-florida-beaches-2023-6">at the beach</a>, <a href="https://www.insider.com/flesh-eating-bacteria-eating-raw-oysters-florida-man-2018-7">eating oysters</a>, or <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/28/health/necrotizing-fasciitis-houston-texas.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">in the aftermath of a hurricane</a>, and that concerning water-borne bacteria with ominous names (<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/vibrio/wounds.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Vibrio vulnificus</a>, for example) are to blame.But, Brink emphasized, necrotizing fasciitis is often caused by bacteria such as <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/groupastrep/diseases-public/necrotizing-fasciitis.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">group A strep</a> or Staph, which humans can carry in their mouths and bodies.Of course, not all human bites will cause life-threatening infections, but given the aforementioned cocktail of oral bacteria, they "can occasionally be more dangerous than you'd expect," <a href="https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/15745-human-bites" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the Mayo Clinic warns</a>.<h2>Don't worry, your risk of a flesh-eating infection is very low</h2>You can rest assured that flesh-eating infections are incredibly rare. In many cases, "it's a perfect storm," Brink said, of bacteria entering the bloodstream and finding friendly conditions.The risk is highest for diabetes patients, Brink said, because "glucose runs high in diabetes patients, and it's great food for the bacteria. The blood becomes a petri dish. Also, our diabetes patients have a blunted immune response."Still, Brink said he sees about one case monthly, and it's not worth taking chances. He said his recent bite patient, Adams, would have reached organ failure if he'd left it even a couple hours longer."If anybody at home has an injury that's at all concerning, get it checked out," Brink said.Also, don't bite people (without consent).

Bacteria in your mouth can cause a flesh-eating infection. Don't bite people (without consent).

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/shakestercody/469705643">Flickr/Cody Long</a></div></div></div>Without regular brushing and flossing, teeth accumulate bacterial films that secrete acid and cause cavities (see adjacent article). 
But sometimes even these good habits are insufficient to shift such films, and a chemical called chlorhexidine has to be deployed as well, in the form of a mouthwash. 
Chlorhexidine, however, stains teeth and affects people's sense of taste, so an alternative would be welcome. And Victoria Moreno-Arribas of the Institute of Food Science Research in Madrid believes she may have one: a derivative of red wine.
Dr Moreno-Arribas knew from previous work that red wine has antimicrobial properties, but she could find few studies which looked at whether it attacks dental biofilms specifically.
To rectify that, she and her colleagues grew five troublesome oral bacteria, Actinomyces oris, Fusobacterium nucleatum, Streptococcus mutans, Streptococcus oralis and Veillonella dispar, on discs of hydroxyapatite, the main component of dental enamel.
They fed the bugs by dipping the discs into solutions of sugar mixed with saliva collected from volunteers, who spent several hours spitting into jars. The results have just been published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
As expected, the bacteria grew to form films on the discs, just as they do on teeth. After a week of such growth the researchers exposed each disc to one of five treatments every day for a further seven days. Some were swished around in red wine (a pinot noir, vintage 2010) for two minutes.
Some were swished in a de-alcoholised version of this wine. Some were swished in chlorhexidine, some in a 12% solution of ethanol (ie, of the same alcoholic strength as the wine) and some in plain water.
This combination of experiments let Dr Moreno-Arribas determine whether wine has antibiofilm properties beyond those bestowed by its alcohol content, and also how well it compares with chlorhexidine.
Sadly for oenophiles, chlorhexidine still came out on top. But wine did well against two of the five species, F. nucleatum and S. oralis. Intriguingly, in the case of S. oralis the de-alcoholised version was even more effective than the full-strength stuff.
To find out which chemicals within the wine were having the desired effect, Dr Moreno-Arribas and her team added wine extracts such as flavanols and yeast polysaccharides to the mix and repeated their experiments. The magic turned out to be provided by a group of chemicals called flavan-3-ols.
Regrettably, this work does not suggest that a nightly glass of wine is a sensible substitute for a thorough dental brushing before you go to bed. But it might, if pursued, allow an alternative to chlorhexidine mouthwash to be developed--perhaps one that does not have such a horrible effect on taste buds.
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Bacteria in your mouth can cause a flesh-eating infection. Don't bite people (without consent).

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Oral Health: Wine Gums

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