Barry Keoghan discussed his experience with necrotising fasciitis – which is also known as the ‘flesh-eating disease’ – on the Louis Theroux Podcast
Saltburn star Barry Keoghan has shared his experience of being treated for a life-threatening infection called necrotising fasciitis. The actor spent three weeks in hospital shortly before he began working on The Banshees of Inisherin (2022)
Barry recalled having necrotising fasciitis during a recent episode of the Louis Theroux Podcast. According to Barry said the infection was a result of being “hit with a bottle.”
He told Louis Theroux: “Necrotising fasciitis is a very rare bacterial infection, you know, and leave it to me to get it. But that was quite a scary experience, and that happened like two weeks before production [of The Banshees of Inisherin].
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He added: ” I remember Martin McDonagh [writer and director of the film] coming to the hospital to visit me and being like ‘are you still able to do this movie?’ and I’d just had surgery. They wanted to amputate the arm…and they were telling me if we don’t catch it there’s a chance you could possibly die.
“And they couldn’t figure out what it was exactly and they had to, in combination with the doctors and surgeons there, they had to bring surgeons over from Liverpool to have a look at it. Yeah that was a tough time”
What is necrotising fasciitis?
According to the NHS, necrotising fasciitis, also known as the “flesh-eating disease”, is a rare and life-threatening infection that can happen if a wound gets infected. It needs to be treated in hospital straight away.
Symptoms of necrotising fasciitis can develop quickly within hours or over a few days. At first you may have:
- intense pain or loss of feeling near to a cut or wound – the pain may seem much worse than you would usually expect from a cut or wound
- swelling of the skin around the affected area
- flu-like symptoms, such as a high temperature, headache and tiredness
Later symptoms can include:
- being sick (vomiting) and diarrhoea
- confusion
- black, purple or grey blotches and blisters on the skin (these may be less obvious on black or brown skin)
Necrotising fasciitis is an infection that can happen after getting a wound. It causes damage to the deep layers of your skin. The infection may get into the body through cuts and scratches, burns and scalds, insect bites, surgery or injecting drugs
You may be more at risk of developing necrotising fasciitis if you have diabetes or a weakened immune system.
The Louis Theroux Podcast is available on Spotify now.
