ALBANY, GA. --
Georgia student, Aimee Copeland, 24, is fighting to survive a flesh eating bacterial infection after suffering a cut.
FOX 31 Facebook users want to know if there's anything they can do to prevent this type of thing from happening to them.
Doctors say what most people don't know is that the flesh eating bacteria is actually a form of Group A Streptococcus (GAS), the infection that causes strep throat.
They say it's normal for the virus to occur in the throat but when it's introduced to foreign parts of the body that aren't use to the disease, it creates an enzyme that forms necrotizing fasciitis.
This is a severe and sometimes life-threatening form of GAS that can become inflamed and infected.
“People need to be aware if they have a little bite or if they have a wound and it's getting worse rapidly and you have fever and you have aching, it is very important to look for medical attention,” says Dr. Tibisay Villalobos, a Pediatric Infectious Disease Doctor with Tift Regional Medical Center.
Dr. Villalobos says this disease is not common, so having a splinter or bug bite does not mean you will develop the disease.
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