In 1883 Fournier described the gangrene as idiopathic, of sudden
presentation and rapidly developing in previously healthy young
males.1 This definition has changed substantially. Today an
underlying etiology can almost always be identified and the
disease is not limited to young people or to males.14,15 This
population based epidemiological study provides a different
perspective than that provided by previous studies. We confirmed
that Fournier’s gangrene is rare by providing data that
Fournier’s gangrene represents less than 0.02% of hospital
admissions with an overall incidence of 1.6 cases per 100,000
males. Overall no patients with Fournier’s gangrene were treated
at 66% of hospitals during a given year and 5 or more per year
were treated at only 1% of hospitals. Thus, even at the highest
volume centers a patient with Fournier’s gangrene was treated
only every few months. In 1972 Stone and Martin reported an 88%
mortality rate in 33 patients with Fournier’s gangrene.2
Although contemporary published seri