
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 23, 1995                   TAG: 9503230105
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-4   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: FAIRLEA, W.VA.                                LENGTH: Short

FLESH-EATING BACTERIA SUSPECTED

Greenbrier County health officials awaited test results to determine whether two residents are suffering from flesh-destroying bacteria, a health official said Wednesday.

Both patients were being treated at Greenbrier Valley Medical Center, Administrator Jim Wood said. He declined to release the patients' names.

The patients have been hit by streptococcus, bacteria that have both strep throat and flesh-eating strains. Health officials are trying to pinpoint which strain of the bacteria the patients contracted.

The bacteria were blamed for several deaths in Virginia earlier this year.

by CNB