THE WORLD
Updated Monday, March 18, 2024-10:33
Health Streptococcus A: symptoms, how it is spread and other doubts
A bacteria has put the Japanese health services on alert.
It is a
group A streptococcus
that is transmitted through the small droplets of saliva that we expel when speaking.
Group A streptococci (
Streptococcus pyogenes)
are a group of bacteria that usually cause mild infectious symptoms but that in a percentage of cases can cause
streptococcal toxic shock syndrome
.
This syndrome has a mortality rate of 30% and usually occurs in adults.
At the moment, the
National Institute of Infectious Diseases of Japan
has not been able to find the reasons for the increase in cases that have occurred in the Japanese country.
"There are still many unknown factors regarding the mechanisms behind fulminant, severe and sudden forms of streptococci, and we are not at the stage where we can explain them," they reported.
At the end of the year, this organization published the numbers of infections that occurred in 2023, which amounted to
941 people affected
by this bacteria.
The alarming thing is that the same Institute already estimates the cases registered in January and February 2024 at 378, which suggests that infections at the end of the year will reach record numbers.
Although they have not given an official explanation for these virulent strains, many experts attribute the high rate of infections and their severity to the restrictions taken during the
coronavirus
and the resulting lack of immunity.
As we have already said, the normal thing is that those infected do not know that they have this bacteria or they simply develop mild symptoms such as small sore throats, but in the most serious cases, this streptococcus can cause very dangerous symptoms such as sepsis, toxic 'shock', pneumonia, meningitis, osteoarticular infection, deep abscesses or necrotizing fasciitis.