Background
Gas gangrene, a subset of necrotizing myositis, is an infectious disease emergency associated with extremely high morbidity and mortality. Organisms in the spore-forming clostridial species, including Clostridium perfringens, Clostridium septicum, and Clostridium novyi, cause most of the cases . A nonclostridial form is caused by a mixed infection of aerobic and anaerobic organisms. The hallmarks of this disease are rapid onset of myonecrosis with muscle swelling, severe pain, gas production, and sepsis.