Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,27574,26082459-3102,00.html
Doctor Hatem Khalil's shock death from golden staph
Article from: The Courier-Mail
Janelle Miles
September 17, 2009 12:00am
A POPULAR, fitness-conscious Brisbane doctor has died from an aggressive bacterial infection, possibly acquired from a patient.
Hatem Khalil, 55, died on August 9 from a virulent strain of golden staph infection, known as community-acquired Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus, or MRSA.
The infection is believed to have started as a boil under his nose, then moved into his bloodstream and into the veins around the brain.
Nine days after being admitted to the Mater Private Hospital, the GP from Coorparoo, on Brisbane's southside, was taken off life support, and died.
Jessie, his wife of 30 years, said if her husband had recovered, he would have been left a "vegetable in a nursing home".
"It went straight to his brain," she said. "He was very, very unlucky."
Australian Medical Association infectious disease spokesman Michael Whitby said Dr Khalil developed a rare complication called septic cerebral thrombophlebitis.
He said the bacteria which killed Dr Khalil, a non-smoker who worked out regularly and played tennis once a week, was commonly found on human skin.
"If you took 100 people in the community, 50 per cent would have this bug," Dr Whitby said. "
However, Dr Whitby said Dr Khalil could have just as easily acquired the infection after shaking hands with a friend or handling money at the supermarket as from contact with a patient.
Four days after her husband's death, Mrs Khalil was admitted to hospital after developing an MRSA infection in her leg. She was in hospital for eight days.
She said she had received many letters and cards from her husband's patients since his death.
"We had people in our surgery after they heard about it, fainting, we had men crying, we had children hysterical," she said.
"He was a very, very popular doctor."
Doctor Hatem Khalil's shock death from golden staph
Article from: The Courier-Mail
Janelle Miles
September 17, 2009 12:00am
A POPULAR, fitness-conscious Brisbane doctor has died from an aggressive bacterial infection, possibly acquired from a patient.
Hatem Khalil, 55, died on August 9 from a virulent strain of golden staph infection, known as community-acquired Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus, or MRSA.
The infection is believed to have started as a boil under his nose, then moved into his bloodstream and into the veins around the brain.
Nine days after being admitted to the Mater Private Hospital, the GP from Coorparoo, on Brisbane's southside, was taken off life support, and died.
Jessie, his wife of 30 years, said if her husband had recovered, he would have been left a "vegetable in a nursing home".
"It went straight to his brain," she said. "He was very, very unlucky."
Australian Medical Association infectious disease spokesman Michael Whitby said Dr Khalil developed a rare complication called septic cerebral thrombophlebitis.
He said the bacteria which killed Dr Khalil, a non-smoker who worked out regularly and played tennis once a week, was commonly found on human skin.
"If you took 100 people in the community, 50 per cent would have this bug," Dr Whitby said. "
However, Dr Whitby said Dr Khalil could have just as easily acquired the infection after shaking hands with a friend or handling money at the supermarket as from contact with a patient.
Four days after her husband's death, Mrs Khalil was admitted to hospital after developing an MRSA infection in her leg. She was in hospital for eight days.
She said she had received many letters and cards from her husband's patients since his death.
"We had people in our surgery after they heard about it, fainting, we had men crying, we had children hysterical," she said.
"He was a very, very popular doctor."