SYDNEY, Nov. 17 (Xinhua) -- An Australian father-of-four has spent 11 days in a coma after contracting a rare type of flesh-eating bacteria.
Jeff Beck, 55, was placed into an induced coma on Nov. 6, three days after he sustained a minor cut on his finger at work.
He spent three days in bed unable to move after sustaining the cut on Nov. 3 as his armpit swelled.
By the time he was taken to the local Traralgon Hospital in rural Victoria he was septic. He was soon after airlifted to the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne.
He was diagnosed with necrotising fasciitis, a flesh-eating bacteria also known as "gas gangrene" which can enter the body through even the smallest break in the skin.
Since being placed in a coma, Beck has undergone seven surgeries to remove a quarter of his tissue and more than five kilograms of dead skin, muscle and tissue.
"Dad is the kind of guy who never complains about anything," Beck's daughter, 25-year-old Stephanie, told Fairfax Media on Friday.
"He is never sick and he's always kept himself very fit from his work, but mum knew something was wrong when his armpit swelled up and he told her the pain he was feeling was 10 out of 10."
Deborah Williamson, a bacteria expert at Melbourne Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, said that around 400 cases of necrotizing fasciitis are diagnosed in Australia every year, a quarter of which prove fatal.
"The doctors told us it is the most aggressive type of flesh-eating bacteria there is but my dad is a fighter," Stephanie said.
"Every day they have removed more and more black tissue and muscle but say it's becoming less and less each day, so we are hoping that he continues to improve."
Doctors have told the family that if he survives Beck will never work as a laborer again and faces a long recovery involving multiple skin grafts on the left side of his body.
