A second person with the flesh-eating bug has been admitted to Ninewells Hospital, Dundee.
Last year just two cases of necrotising fasciitis, commonly known as the flesh-eating bug, were reported in the whole of Scotland. In the first two months of this year there have already been two cases both of them treated at Ninewells.
No details about the latest victim are being made public but it is understood the person is undergoing treatment as an in-patient.
At the end of last month a Dundee woman in her 60s was admitted to the hospital with the potentially fatal infection and began a course of treatment. It is understood she left hospital on Friday.
A spokeswoman for NHS Tayside said there was no connection between the two cases.
“There is no relation between the two, absolutely no connection,” she said.
Patients who survive the infection usually require drastic surgery to save their life. These patients require skin grafts and reconstructive surgery and have to be cared for in an environment where strict infection control procedures are in place.
The most recent cases have been treated in the same unit where burns victims get specialist treatment in a sterile environment.
Earlier this month Arbroath grandmother Sandra Mann bravely told how she is still battling with the consequences of necrotising fasciitis months after surgeons cut away a swathe of dead flesh from her arm.
“My arm looks as if a shark has come and taken a great big bite out of it, ” said Sandra.
She finds her mutilated limb so repulsive she has difficulty looking at it. However, three times a day, she has to strip off a compression bandage in place to help reduce continuing swelling and apply cream to the massive wound.
In a bid to raise awareness, she told The Courier her story after Ninewells infectious diseases expert Professor Dilip Nathwani said that even doctors have trouble recognising the potentially fatal infection.