A potentially fatal "flesh-eating" bacterium infected more than 500 people in Japan during 2017, the most of any year on record, .
A total of 525 cases of streptococcal toxic shock syndrome (STSS) were reported as of Dec. 10, including 66 cases in Tokyo, 40 in Kanagawa, 32 in Aichi and 31 in Fukuoka prefectures.
That is more than double the cases recorded in Japan in 2013. The newspaper reported that cases have been increasing steadily in recent years, but the cause of the increase is not clear.
STSS is mainly caused by group A Streptococcus, but other bacteria such as group G Streptococcus can also cause potentially fatal forms of the disease.