The case of a soldier whose leg was amputated by the NHS because antibiotics could not treat his infection is a sign of a growing crisis, doctors say
When the soldier arrived from the battlefields of Ukraine, the NHS team was — at first — most concerned about his extensive shrapnel wounds.
But when they had cleaned up the 35-year-old’s injuries, the doctors at St George’s Hospital in south London realised they had a bigger problem on their hands. Deep within the blast wounds on his left leg, a bacterial infection had taken hold.
An initial cocktail of five different antibiotics failed to kill the bacteria. With the wound still festering, they switched regimens to try four other drugs, including colistin, a “top shelf” antibiotic with severe side effects, reserved for cases where nothing else will work. But those, too, had a limited impact.
