Word: strepping
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...notorious flare-up in Gloucestershire, England, of what the press dubbed flesh-eating bacteria alerted people to the dangers of streptococcus-A infections. The common bacteria that cause strep throat generally produce no lasting harm if properly treated, but certain virulent strains can turn lethal. Strep-A infections claim thousands of lives each year in the U.S. and Europe alone...
...deadly flesh-eating bacteria" can be too deliciously terrifying to resist. That's what British tabloids decided when they learned that the germ had caused a mini-outbreak of lethal infections in Gloucestershire last month, bringing the death toll in England and Wales for this particularly virulent form of strep to 11 for the year. The papers fanned fears with such headlines as EATEN ALIVE and KILLER BUG ATE MY FACE. And when a handful of cases, including at least one death, were reported in the U.S. last week, the coverage, particularly on TV, was only a little more subdued...
...short answer, say doctors: no way. While the streptococcus bacterium is very common -- it causes the strep throat that everyone catches sooner or later -- the publicized cases involve a deadly variant of the germ that is rare. Up to 15,000 people come down with invasive Group A strep every year, and perhaps 3,000 die. The infection is easily treatable, though, if caught early. Moreover, the microbe has been around for years, and no one thinks it will suddenly cause a pandemic...
Until that point, antibiotics can easily wipe it out. What makes severe, invasive strep A different is that the microbe itself is "ill," infected with a virus. The virus tricks the bacterium into pumping out a highly toxic chemical. Among the possible effects: a catastrophic drop in blood pressure (which contributed to the death of Muppetmeister Jim Henson in 1990); scarlet fever; or, as the recent news reports point out, "necrotizing fasciitis," an illness that can eat away fat and muscle at the astounding rate of up to one inch an hour. If that last process starts, the only treatments...
...question is whether killer strep is on the rise. Some experts think it's not. But even those who say the bacterium is spreading believe this is part of a recurring biological cycle, not a new phenomenon. The scarlet fever epidemics of the 1930s and '40s were caused by invasive strep A, and there were reports at the time of necrotizing fasciitis. After a deadly run through the population, the bacterium subsided; most victims had either died or developed immunity. The big difference this time is better treatment. While some strains of strep are showing resistance to some antibiotics...