They lost only one man, who died early of possible complications from an infected appendix, and killed two during a skirmish with Blackfeet Indians in Montana.

But it took 30 hours before doctors decided that Ms. Murray probably had an infected appendix and needed an emergency appendectomy.

It could cause an infected appendix to rupture.

"Within a few hours an infected appendix or gall bladder can rupture," he said.

An infected appendix must be surgically removed or it will eventually burst, spreading the infection within the abdomen.

An infected appendix can leak and infect the entire abdominal area, which can be deadly.

Missed diagnosis can lead to serious, even life-threatening complications when an infected appendix is not removed soon after the symptoms develop.

For example; fluid from an infected appendix can track up the right paracolic gutter to the hepatorenal recess.

Removing an inflamed and infected appendix, for example, is simple, it works, and further proof is probably not needed, experts say.

This procedure consists in the removal of the infected appendix through a single larger incision in the lower right area of the abdomen.