DISEASE OF THE WEEK; GANGRENE.

A disaster for toe-sucking fans, the foul odour from gangrene not only beats the worst cheesy feet, but often ends with the affected part actually rotting off.

There are two varieties - dry and moist - with the second being the most common.

Diseases like diabetes and ones affecting the nervous system often weaken the body, so that even a minor injury may cause gangrene.

If a limb is badly crushed, frozen or burned by heat or chemicals, it may not recover and putrefaction begins.

In moist gangrene, the affected area becomes swollen, livid and covered in blebs. It will then turn bluish-green and black. Moist gangrene is typified by the stench and the fluid escaping from the decaying tissue.

The line between dead and living tissue is marked by a red ring. However, this is sometimes not clear and patients have been known to lose entire limbs because the gangrene has spread throughout the area.

There may also be a high fever and in some cases the patient has died from blood poisoning.

Old people with diseased arteries are the most common victims of dry gangrene.

In this case there is pain in the limb, which gradually becomes a dusky red colour, then brown and black.

There is no fever and the red ring gradually deepens to the point where the gangrenous part drops off.