A Gwinnett County woman is recovering from a rare bacterial infection that nearly killed her last spring.
Doctors at Gwinnett Medical Center had to place Karen Thieken, 38, in a medically induced coma for 11 days to save her life. Their diagnosis: Group A strep infection.
It’s still a mystery how she contracted the infection, Thieken told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Doctors think she may have introduced it into her body by scratching a small rash on the back of her neck, sending toxins throughout her body.
She fell ill with flu-like symptoms on April 15, a Saturday, after working in the yard with her husband, Paul. By Sunday, she felt worse and developed excruciating neck pains. She had to be rushed to the hospital after passing out in the bathroom.
Karen Thieken began to go into septic shock. Her lungs, kidneys and liver all began to shut down, and she had to be placed on life support.
“They needed to put me in a medically induced coma in order for them to do what they needed to do,” Thieken said.
Thieken was so sick, doctors didn’t expect her to live and told her husband to gather the family before she died.
“I kept thinking, what am I going to do with these kids? What am I going to do without her?” Paul Thieken said. The Thiekens have two daughters.
Karen Thieken said doctors attributed her husband’s cool-headedness and ability to supply critical medical information about her to helping them save her.
Six months after her harrowing ordeal, Karen Thieken has recovered except for lingering joint pain, some fatigue and permanent hearing loss in her right ear.
“I’ll be getting a hearing aid, and other than that, I don’t have much to complain about,” she said. “I’m very lucky.”
Severe, sometimes life-threatening Group A Strep disease can occur when bacteria get into parts of the body where bacteria usually are not found, such as the blood, muscle or lungs, according to CDC.
Despite having had several high-profile cases in metro Atlanta recently, deadly bacterial infections are still rare, infectious disease specialist Dr. Robin Dretler told Channel 2 Action News.
“Our own immune systems can miss certain things, and if you get exposed to something you’re immune system can’t handle, you’re in trouble,” Dretler said.
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