Japan faces another critical moment for its health system, this after the authorities’ alarming report on the great increase in serious invasive streptococcal bacterial infections.
The figures are worrying, since just between January and May 2024, a record number has already been reached for the country.
Mysterious disease threatens Japan
Japan had confirmed 977 of these infections as of the first days of June caused by a rare variant of streptococcus that, in the worst case scenario, can cause a disease with a mortality rate of 30 percent.
The figure is almost triple the 349 cases recorded in the same period of 2023 and already exceeds the annual number of last year, when a record number of 941 of these infections were detected.
Japan: What is streptococcal infection?
Infections with group streptococcus bacteria can rarely cause streptococcal toxic shock syndrome, caused primarily by group A streptococcus (more common in children) and with a mortality rate of 30 percent.
The trend is generating concern among health authorities in Japan, because the majority of current patients are between 30 and 40 years old. Doctors ask the population to seek medical attention immediately if they present symptoms such as pain in the extremities or fever, given that the worsening can be rapid and in some cases cause necrosis in the extremities, which is why it is also known as the ‘bacteria carnivore’.
“So, more people are now susceptible to infection, and that may be one reason for the sharp rise in cases,” Ken Kikuchi, a professor at Tokyo Women’s Medical University and an expert in infectious diseases, said in statements to the public broadcaster NHK.
Kikuchi explained that the most serious cases of these infections are usually caused by bacteria that enter through a wound, although there are cases in which the exact route is unknown. The Japanese Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare, Keizo Takemi, assured in a press conference after the publication of the NIID report that the government closely follows the infection trend and asked the population to maintain good personal hygiene.
The minister still wanted to downplay the seriousness of the data and pointed out that these types of infections are not limited to Japan and are also increasing in other countries.
