Flesh-eating bug kills new mother

Flesh-eating bug kills new mother

A mother who contracted a flesh-eating bug has died in hospital. Jill Maskell, 29, developed necrotising fasciitis days after giving birth to a healthy baby girl at Hillingdon Hospital, London. She was transferred to Derriford Hospital, Plymouth, for pioneering oxygen treatment in a recompression chamber.

Necrotising faciitis is caused by a common bacteria which in rare cases attacks muscle and fat. There are around 50 cases in Britain each year, and the bug caused 12 deaths in 1995. Mrs Maskell, of Harlington, west London, became ill soon after having her baby and went back into hospital two weeks later.