Magpie attack costs woman her leg in Australia

An elderly woman has had her leg amputated after being pecked by a pet magpie.

The woman, 84, went to a hospital emergency department in Newcastle, NSW, with pain, swelling and redness to her lower left leg, near where her daughter's magpie had attacked her 11 days before.

She was admitted to hospital and prescribed antibiotics and anti-fungal drugs, but continued to worsen. Gangrene set in and her leg was amputated above the knee.

Infectious diseases physician Paul Wilson reported the case in the latest Medical Journal of Australia. He said infections following pecking injuries were rare.

"Serious infections relating to trauma involving a bird have included septic arthritis of the knee after a chicken bite and a fatal brain abscess in a child caused by a rooster peck," Dr Wilson wrote.

In the Newcastle case, he said pre-existing circulation problems in the woman, a former smoker, may have contributed to the aggressive course of the infection.