blink-182’s Travis Barker is now fighting a staph infection

If you’ve been following along the health issues of blink-182’s Travis Barker–a couple of shows in the band’s Las Vegas residency had to be canceled because he has blood clots in his arms–things have taken a disturbing turn.

Reports say that Travis is now fighting a staph infection. He was admitted to an LA hospital last week, discharged Monday but returned on Tuesday.

The blood clots are being treated with blood thinners–they have to be monitored as they dissolve so they don’t break and then travel through the bloodstream to the heart, lungs, or brain where they could be fatal– but the infection and cellulitis (a specific infection of the skin and the layers of tissue immediately beneath it) is another matter.

Staph infections come in various flavours, ranging from the benign to the sort that causes necrotizing fascitis, the dreaded flesh-eating disease. You don’t mess with these things. High-powered antibiotics are called for.

Remember, too, that Travis’ skin is terribly scarred as the result of the burns he received in that 2008 crash of a private jet. He was one of only two survivors but received burns over most of his body. He had to endure multiple skin graft operations.

(Via TMZ)