Man almost dies after taking antibiotics: With blisters and burns all over his body, he had to learn to walk and eat again

A two-week round of antibiotics nearly took a man’s life. Thirty-eight year-old Josh Dennis from Colorado suffered severe blisters and burns over 90 percent of his body and was temporarily blinded after taking a two week round of antibiotics to treat a staph infection.

The course of antibiotics afflicted his body with toxic epidermal necrolysis, a debilitating condition where the skin cells, mucus membranes, eyes, and genitals begin to burn and blister indiscriminately. The reaction started with itching under his fingernails and quickly erupted into hives. He came down with a fever that couldn’t be stopped. An uncontrollable itch overtook his feet and he started struggling to walk.

When the skin started separating from his body, he sought help. Doctors fumbled through the medical literature to find out what could be happening. Dennis was quickly admitted to a burns ward. Within a week, Dennis was unrecognizable, bedridden, and covered head-to-toe in blisters. His eyes began to go purple and his face was swollen. Even the inside of his mouth turned to blisters. He vividly remembers being left with “a scrotum looking like a brain oozing pus.” He lost his ability to walk and eat.