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A Tennessee woman almost lost her thumb after contracting flesh-eating bacteria from a nail salon, she says

Posted at 11:59 AM, Sep 24, 2019
and last updated 2019-09-24 14:59:06-04

Warning: some of the images in the gallery above may be too graphic for some viewers.

A Tennessee woman is warning others after she says she contracted flesh-eating bacteria from a nail salon.

Jayne Sharp of Knoxville, Tennessee, was getting a manicure earlier this year when she felt a prick. She said she didn't think anything of it. Within hours, Sharp says her thumb started to swell and she felt like she had the flu.

Sharp spoke with one of her daughters, who is a registered nurse, about what was happening and her daughter told Sharp to go to the doctor. The nurse practitioner used a marker to track the thumb's swelling. The next morning, the swelling extended to her elbow. She was sent to the emergency room.

Sharp underwent two surgeries in Knoxville and a third at TriStar Centennial Medical Center in Nashville. They told her it was flesh-eating bacteria. It took her months to feel normal and her thumb is still numb. Sharp is suing the nail salon.

This story was originally published by Seena Sleem on WTVF.