In Japan, an increase in infections with a ‘flesh-eating’ bacterium that causes streptococcal-induced toxic shock syndrome (STSS) was reported in the first half of the year. To date, more than 1,000 diseases have been registered. This is the highest value since statistics began in 1999.
“The bacteria look like a series of round mushrooms,” Yukihiro Kaneko of Osaka Metropolitan University explained on Thursday. There are two main types of infection. “The most common is a type of throat disease called pharyngitis, which mainly affects children. Then there is the ‘fulminant (severe, sudden) form of the disease’, which, according to the doctor, is fatal for a third of patients.
Currently, an increase in both forms is being observed, but “the fulminant form,” STSS, which can lead to death within 48 hours, is particularly serious, Kaneko said. In Japan alone, more than 77 people had died from this as of June 2. Thailand has therefore even issued a travel warning for Japan.
Expert sees a global problem
In severe cases, the widespread pathogens (the streptococci), which are transmitted by droplet infection, cause ‘flesh-eating’ necrotizing fasciitis. Expert Kaneko also warned that this is a global problem. “This infection is widespread worldwide, especially in Great Britain only a little later,” the doctor said.
Ken Kikuchi, an infectious disease expert at Tokyo Women’s Medical University, said in an interview with The Japan Times newspaper that he fears there could be up to 2,500 infections in Japan alone this year. It is not yet known exactly why this syndrome is currently more common there.
Aftermath of the corona pandemic?
“It is probably the case that our immune system has had less to do with streptococci over the past three to four years due to the Covid pandemic, social distancing, face masks and increased hygiene measures and is therefore more susceptible,” says the head of the Infectious Diseases Department. in the Clinic for Internal Medicine II of the University Hospital of Freiburg, Siegbert Rieg.
According to experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, it is unclear how nearly half of those infected actually became infected. The sharp increase in the number of STSS cases in Japan – which the Japanese Ministry of Health says is at a record level – is also unclear at this time.
The number of cases is also increasing in Europe
The number of cases also appears to be increasing in Europe. In December 2022, France, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden and Great Britain reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) an increase in infections with invasive streptococci type A. Children under the age of ten were the most affected.
Source: Krone
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