A bacterial infection”rare but dangerous“is spreading at a record pace in Japan. This is reported by the newspaper ‘The Guardian’, which details how the strain of streptococcus called streptococcal toxic shock syndrome.

The National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID) recorded a total of 941 cases of this strain in 2023; So far in 2024, 378 cases have already been registered in all but two of Japan’s prefectures. The NIID clarifies that, although this strain has a higher mortality rate among older patients, deaths are also being recorded in patients under 50 years of age.

“There are still many unknown factors regarding the mechanisms behind fulminant (severe and sudden) forms of streptococci, and we are not in the moment in which we can explain them,” they add from the NIID.

Most cases of streptococcal toxic shock syndrome are caused by a bacteria called streptococcus pyogenesknown as streptococcus A, which can cause a sore throat and often does not generate any type of symptoms.

This highly contagious strain can cause serious illness, health complications, and even death, with approximately one 30% mortality among those suffering from streptococcal toxic shock syndrome. Experts link the increase in cases registered since last year with the lifting of all restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The professor of infectious diseases at Tokyo Women’s Medical University says he is “very concerned” about this increase in cases of patients with serious invasive streptococcal infections. “In my opinion, more than 50% of Japanese people have been infected by Sars-CoV-2. The immune status of people after recovering from COVID-19 could alter their susceptibility to some microorganisms. We need to clarify the infection cycle of the severe invasive diseases due to streptococcus pyogenes and control them immediately“, Add