The family of an 11-year-old boy who died recently after suffering a flesh-eating bacteria infection revealed that his demise started when he twisted his ankle while running on a treadmill weeks ago.
Jessee Brown suffered from a deadly brain swelling after his ankle injury developed to a “splotchy, purply, red almost like bruised” leg within days.
“They said that because he rolled his ankle, that that's likely where the infection attacked it because it was already weak,” the boy's cousin said.
“He was just such an old soul. Like, everybody was like, 'He's such a little adult, like, in this little, tiny body, you know?”
Doctors say that group A strep causes a “very rapid, toxic infection” in both kids and adults suffering larger wounds or even scrapes.
“The bottom line here is that first properly clean the wound and then be able to watch it over time,” said Dr. Alan Cross, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Maryland Medical Center.
