The use of street drugs known as “bath salts” are the source of
an outbreak of a rare flesh-eating disease. Numerous cases of
necrotizing fasciitis caused by an intramuscular injection of
bath salts are being reported across the United States. So-
called “bath salts” are sold as synthetic powders that “often
contain various amphetamine-like chemicals,” according to the
U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse, which warned that
injections can cause the ravaging skin condition. It was first
noticed when doctors in New Orleans treated a 34-year-old woman
who developed forearm pain and redness after she attended a
party. She didn’t have any other symptoms but did have a small
red puncture wound on her arm. The woman eventually admitted
that she injected bath salts two days before her symptoms began.
The doctors reexamined her and determined that she had
necrotizing fasciitis. The disease progressed so rapidly that
the doctors had to amputate the woman’s arm, shoulder and
collarbone and perform a radical mastectomy.