Flesh-eating bacteria sidelines college wrestler

Publish date: 2024-05-04

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This case makes ringworm – the wrestler’s bane – look like a walk in the park.

Two months ago, University of Nebraska-Lincoln wrestler Peyton Robb noticed a strange bruise on his shin when he took to the mats at a national tournament in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Soon, he began feeling sick. Then his leg swelled and flushed. His next stop was the hospital, where doctors found an aggressive bacterial infection called necrotizing fasciitis, a bacterial infection that eats healthy cells, according to KETV in Omaha.

The horrifying condition threatened to take the young man’s leg, the station said. So doctors decided to strip away the infected tissue, then treat the wound in a Nebraska hospital’s hyperbaric oxygen chamber.

The fifth-year senior endured multiple surgeries during his 13-day hospital stay.

“By doing surgery, getting this opened up and kind of cleaned out as well as then presenting more oxygen into both the tissue from that wound … as well as just in the bloodstream, [it] basically helps kind of suppress and help kill the bacteria in addition to antibiotics,” Roy Maurer, a physician associate, told the station.

Wrestler Peyton Robb fell ill with a flesh-eating bacteria that threatened to rob him of his left leg. AP
Doctors decided to strip away the infected skin, then treat him in a hyperbaric chamber. KETV

Robb spent more than two hours a day, five days a week for six weeks in the tank, which doctors flooded with pure oxygen in the hopes that it would help cells recover faster and more efficiently.

“There was a lot of moments where I was just kind of in pain,” Robb told the network. “Sometimes it was just subtle, sometimes a little bit more.”

The hyperbaric chamber was pumped full of pure oxygen, which doctors say helped cells recover more quickly. KETV

Despite the high-stakes crucible, Robb has kept a positive attitude. He’s finished his treatment, and expects to be back in the gym soon.

“I just learned to keep that positive outlook in whatever situation you’re in,” Robb said. “I think that helped me through the whole thing.”

Robb is done with his treatments and expects to start working out again soon. Peyton Robb / Instagram

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