A FREAK flesh-killing infection moved too fast for surgeons trying to save an elderly woman.

An inquest heard how the rare condition spread ahead of the medical team trying to cut it out.

Despite four operations in a fortnight, 83-year-old Margery Young died from damage the infection had done in February.

She was recovering well from a routine hip replacement at Hereford County Hospital when 'redness' was noticed around her wound.

Worst fears were quickly confirmed - this was a 'double whammy' where one virulent micro-organism killed tissue around the wound while the other spread infection.

Surgeon Frank Sibley said while some form of infection was always a risk after operations, he had only seen this condition - known as Necrotising Faciitis - five to 10 times during 20 years of practice.

Medical science, he said, was not yet advanced enough to offer a definitive treatment.

All his team could do was administer antibiotics and try to cut the infection away.

Moved too fast

But it moved too fast for them. So fast that the outcome was never really in doubt said critical care specialist Dr John Hutchinson.

The damage done, said Dr Hutchinson, eventually meant there was little else to do but make the patient comfortable and 'allow nature to take its course'.

Mrs Young, from Abergavenny, died in intensive care in February .

Pathologist Dr Paul Dunne said a post mortem examination proved the presence of two different micro-organisms working together to create a very rare and tough to treat condition.

County Coroner David Halpern said his death by misadventure verdict was no reflection on the hospital, its standards or staff.

The ordeal for Mrs Young's family had, he said, been 'horrendous'.

l Figures given to the inquest in evidence showed that of around 500 joint replacement operations Hereford County Hospital carries out just five, or less, lead to an infection. The hospital's post-operative infection rate runs at one per cent.