Woman With UTI Has Both Hands and Feet Amputated

A Brazilian woman who went to hospital for a urine infection ended up having her hands and feet amputated.

Rio-based Gabrielle Barbosa first suffered a urinary tract infection (UTI) in December 2022, which was treated with antibiotics. However the infection did not properly clear up, Globo reported.

In March this year, she began to experience problems with her kidneys.

"One day I felt pain in my kidney while at work and I rushed to the hospital but they treated it as renal colic. They put me on a drip but I vomited a lot," Barbosa told Globo. "I had tests and we saw that my infection had already spread." Despite this, she was sent home.

"The doctors now say that I shouldn't have been discharged but they sent me home. When I got there, I fainted," she said.

Barbosa needed urgent medical attention, however, there was a lack of beds available at the hospital, Globo reported.

By the time she was admitted, things had taken a turn for the worst.

"I went into hospital on March 31, but I was already very bad," she told the news outlet. "I was intubated and had two cardiac arrests. I was in an induced coma for six days and when I woke up I found that my hands and feet were bandaged. The doctors took a while to tell me they were going to amputate but I already knew."

Barbosa remained calm and just wanted to know if she could "have a normal life" and continue to be independent, she told the news outlet.

She continues to have physical therapy and is adjusting to her new life.

UTIs are caused when bacteria enters the urinary tract and are normally cured with a course of antibiotics. They have a number of causes and can result from sex, holding urine in for too long and dehydration. Symptoms usually ease shortly after medication is taken.

However, in severe cases the infection can spread and if the bacteria associated with the infection enters the kidneys, it can also enter the bloodstream. In extreme cases, this can lead to sepsis.

Sepsis is a life threatening condition and if not treated immediately the heart will often shut down.

Limb amputation can also result because septic shock can cause the development of small blood clots that stop blood flowing to the arms, hands, legs and feet.

When this occurs, the body's tissues begin to die.

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