Gjoa Haven (Feb 02/04) - A Gjoa Haven man who died of flesh-eating disease was told two days earlier that he needed no medical treatment.

On Jan. 23, 30-year-old Vincent Pootoogo went to the health centre in Gjoa Haven complaining of pain in his hip, but he was promptly sent home.

Two days later things were so dire, Pootoogo was medevaced to Yellowknife's Stanton Territorial Hospital, then on to Edmonton. There he died from necrotizing fasciitis (commonly known as flesh-eating disease). The illness is caused by the group A streptococcus (GAS) bacteria.

"The family members are mad," said Rhoda Porter, Pootoogo's niece. She added the family was devastated by the shocking news of her uncle's death.

"We didn't expect him to go like that."

Pootoogo had often complained of stomach pains and other health problems, Porter said. But he said his concerns were never taken seriously by health workers in Gjoa Haven.

On his final trip to the health centre, according to Porter he told his girlfriend, "They're only going to believe me when I'm dying."

Porter said the last time she spoke to Pootoogo he sounded, "Really, really sick. Dry voice."

"It's a sneaky disease which mimics a lot of problems," said Dr. James Talbot, Nunavut's chief medical officer. "People are often sent home."

He added that Community Health in the Kitikmeot will conduct a review of why the system failed, but also stressed that even in Canada's most high-profile case of the disease -- that of Quebec politician Lucien Bouchard -- the correct diagnosis was slow in coming.

"In fact, Mr. Bouchard was sent home the first time he was seen," said Talbot.

In Bouchard's case, the delay in treatment cost him his leg -- Pootoogo died.

"GAS can actually start killing muscle tissue at the rate of a centimetre an hour," Talbot said. Victims may even appear fine on the surface of their skin.

"One of the reasons it moves so fast is that the bacteria shuts the blood vessels in the area down," he said. "Because those blood vessels are plugged, antibiotics can't get to the site, neither can the body's own defences -- blood cells and anti-bodies."

Despite the severity of this case, people in Gjoa Haven can feel "very safe," Talbot said.

"It's never been recorded where flesh eating disease has been transmitted to another person," said Talbot.