DALY CITY, Calif., July 24, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Necrotizing Fasciitis Foundation (NNFF) today is calling attention to an interview on RadioMD with Dr. John Crew, Medical Director of the Advanced Wound Care Center at Seton Medical Center in Daly City, California. The subject: A new treatment for deadly flesh-eating disease, or necrotizing fasciitis.

"As Dr. Crew said in the interview, doctors are having great success with a new treatment that Dr. Crew has pioneered," said Jacqueline Roemmele, executive director of the NNFF. "But many doctors and patients aren't yet aware that this treatment exists. So tragically, victims continue to lose their lives or have limbs amputated because of this terrible disease. We're doing everything we can to spread the message that there is a medical advance that really will help patients and their families. I am hopeful this RadioMD interview will help to get the word out."

RadioMD is a talk show aimed at bringing accurate, timely information to consumers. On July 21, RadioMD's Melanie Cole talked with Dr. John Crew about necrotizing fasciitis, a disease that kills up to 20 percent of its victims even with aggressive treatment.

As Dr. Crew explained in the interview, flesh-eating disease has been known since the age of Hippocrates. It starts when bacteria get under the skin and start to spread. The body tries to fight the infection, but toxins from the bacteria and the reaction of the body's own immune system together eat away tissue. "The body starts digesting itself," said Dr. Crew.

The traditional treatment is to kill the bacteria with antibiotics and "to cut until you get rid of all the areas affected," Dr. Crew explained. But because the tissue can die so fast, "people lost arms, legs or their life very quickly."

In the new treatment developed by Dr. Crew, doctors irrigate the wound with NeutroPhase, a product from Emeryville, California biopharmaceutical company NovaBay Pharmaceuticals (NYSE: NBY). NeutroPhase contains hypochlorous acid, "the substance that God created inside white blood cells to kill bacteria," said Dr. Crew.

After Dr. Crew saved the arm and life of the first patient he treated, he realized the potential of NeutroPhase.  Dr. Crew knew that in laboratory testing it has been shown to kill a broad spectrum of bacteria and also to neutralize the toxins that are known to exist in the tissues of NF patients."  

He's now overseen the successful treatment of more than two dozen victims, and he's anxious to make people aware of the advance and to convince other doctors to use it. "We've had great success when doctors treat patients in the right way, but terrible success when they won't use it."

"It's extremely important to recognize the disease for what it is, and that there is something available to treat it," he added. "We will send the material anywhere if your doctor will use it."

Jacqueline Roemmele

Executive Director

National Necrotizing Fasciitis Foundation

[email protected] 

908-422-7744

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140724/130042

SOURCE National Necrotizing Fasciitis Foundation