Whew... just a reminder, folks. Wear your gloves.

http://www.independent.ie/world-news/europe/britain/solicitor-mum-of-two-dies-from-sepsis-five-days-after-scratching-her-hand-gardening-35099274.html

Solicitor mum of two dies from sepsis five days after scratching her hand gardening

I've worn gloves only to have my forearms mauled by pickers, or thorns. I probably scratch myself a few hundred times gardening each year.

It's amazing how much it costs to see a doctor and how bad the care can sometimes be.  I know that they do great work under the circumstances, but we really need efficient, cheap testing to give doctors more to go on.  I'm not sure, though, if any test would be allowed to be cheap in health care.  Those costs definitely keep some people away when they should go in.

Very sad story.  I need to get some good gloves!

Hi,
Not knowing the complete health status of that lady ... saying it came from that injury ... is a blind shot.
She might have had other health problems.
Is sepsis a complete body infection - as I understood - ? IF so, you don't get that in one day, and often people have other problems and the sum of all makes the bill being sad.

There is though a disease that anyone working with his hands (near rose trees or rusty stuff ) can get with a wound and it is the "tetanus". One should be vaccinated against that disease. Here that is part of the "mandatory" vaccine.
In some parts of the world, it is not.
Except from that, if not working with manure, gardening is sort of safe when you behave and don't play with dangerous hazards ( spiky bush in the eye, knife through a hand or finger, shovel through the foot ... LOL ... ).
Living is dangerous !

I once got a very tiny splinter in the tip of my index finger one morning. I mean just a tiny black speck. I annoyed me, so I dug it out that afternoon. By later that evening the whole end of my finger was red and swollen. I woke up in the night with my hand hurting. The whole finger was swollen, and the end was turning purple and black. I went to a doctor the next day (Sunday). They looked at it, gave me an antibiotic shot and prescription, and said that I need to see a hand specialist. By this time the finger was purplish black to the first joint.

By that evening, less than 36 hours after first getting the tiny splinter and with all the antibiotics, my finger was double its normal size. I also had red streaks run up my arm to the shoulder. This was only about 24 hrs from the first real sign off trouble.

I got an emergency appointment to see a hand surgeon the next morning. To shorten story, I ended up loosing the whole end of my finger and being on drugs for a month. I had gotten a infection in what they call a "felon pad" in the tip of my finger. The surgeon said that if I had waited a few more hours, I would have lost the whole finger and ended up in the hospital with sepsis.

This just shows how a very small, almost non-existent, injury can end up threatening your life. I am a lot more conscious and careful with splinters now, and wear gloves more than I used to.

CliffH.

That's a real eye-opener.  Thanks for sharing.

Wow, it's sort of like an anti-lottery. The chances of it happening are like 1/10,000,000 or less and instead of being something great it's super crappy :/

As far as the first story goes, there is a saying "That's why it's called practicing medicine". Hopefully when you need a health care provider you get someone with a lot of practice or who was taught by people with good practice. Obviously they didn't ask all the right questions they should have for the poor woman to give the right answers, it seems like a no-brainer to me. They really dropped the ball and it cost her and her family her life.

A friend of mine was repairing a deck on the back of his house. He forgot he removed the old deck and walked out the back door! He fell on his knees, and cut them. About 3 days later he was having severe pain, and went to the Emergency Center. Turned out he became infected with a flesh eating bacteria.
He is fine, they knew what it was quickly. I disagree that the lady could have got the infection elsewhere. The swelling in her hand and arm makes it clear it was from the cut. Most sepsis is from cuts. Anyway many types of bacteria are in the soil. Numerous, probably hundreds of things can happen to you from soil born bacteria, or even one celled animals, and fungi too. I'm a retired Med Tech and saw many infections, all kinds of stuff. The samples were sent to me to test and identify. What I did. It's not just soil, metal, wood, manure etc.

I dont think its related to the soil bacteria, alot of celulitis comes from just scratching.

Btw ever since i am gardening i feel my immune system is stronger.