Flesh-eating bacteria patient to leave Georgia hospital

ATLANTA (Reuters) - The Georgia graduate student who just weeks ago was fighting for her life after contracting a rare flesh-eating bacterial infection will be released from the hospital on Monday to continue her recovery at a rehabilitation center, her father said on Friday.

Aimee Copeland, 24, has undergone amputations of her left leg at the hip, both hands and her remaining foot after being diagnosed with necrotizing fasciitis, a bacterial infection that can destroy muscles, skin and tissue.

The infection developed after she cut the calf of her leg in a May 1 fall from a zip-line strung along the Little Tallapoosa River near Carrollton, Georgia.

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She spent weeks in critical condition at Doctors Hospital in Augusta. Her condition was upgraded this week from serious to good, the best possible rating, and she continues to improve, said her father, Andy Copeland.

“Her progress has been really amazing,” he told Reuters on Friday. “She right now has zero tubes in her body.”

Aimee Copeland will spend six to eight weeks at the rehabilitation center, where she eventually will be fitted with prosthetic devices, her father said.

She also will be taught how to use a computer and plans to finish her thesis on wilderness therapy to complete a master’s degree in psychology at the University of West Georgia, Andy Copeland said.

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“She decided she wants to walk in the graduation in December,” he said.

(Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Phil Berlowitz)