UK Gynecologists Report Rise in Flesh-Eating Infections of the Vulva

UK Gynecologists Report Rise in Flesh-Eating Infections of the Vulva

I am beginning to feel intense pity for the regular citizens of the United Kingdom (UK).

Their leader is the absolutely horrendous Keir Starmer. Citizens can be tossed into jail for social media posts. Their electricity prices are soaring due to their leader’s green energy schemes.

Now there is another challenge that can be added to the list: Doctors in the UK are reporting a concerning increase in cases of necrotizing fasciitis of the vulva — a rare but extremely aggressive bacterial infection often called “flesh-eating disease.” This infection destroys soft tissue rapidly and can become fatal within hours if not treated promptly.

In a new case report published April 8 in the journal BMJ Case Reports, U.K. doctors describe three patients who were found to have necrotizing fasciitis of the vulva. The vulva includes the external female genitalia, such as the labia majora and labia minora, for example.

“Necrotizing fasciitis (NF), also known as flesh-eating disease, can arise when certain bacteria enter the skin through a wound — a cut, abrasion, burn, surgical wound, or even an insect bite,” Bill Sullivan, a professor of microbiology and immunology at Indiana University, who was not involved in the case report, told Live Science in an email. “NF can occur anywhere skin or tissue is breached, including genitalia.”

In necrotizing fasciitis, bacteria infiltrate the fascia, which is the connective tissue surrounding muscles, nerves, fat and blood vessels. The infection rapidly causes soft tissues to die, or “necrotize,” and spreads through the body very quickly.

A recent report from Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust detailed three women hospitalized with vulvar necrotizing fasciitis; one died less than 28 hours after diagnosis despite emergency surgery and intensive care.

In two of the cases, the women were diagnosed with vulvar necrotizing fasciitis in the emergency room. In the third, the woman developed it as a complication from an infected surgical wound.

One woman had seen a doctor five days earlier after noticing a spot on her mons pubis, and was prescribed antibiotics. But the treatment failed to clear the infection, and by the time she was hospitalized, the infection had spread throughout her labia majora, lower abdomen, and left hip. Despite surgical removal of her infected and necrotic tissue (also known as debridement) and intensive care support, the woman died of sepsis just 28 hours after her diagnosis.

The other two women survived their ordeal, though not without serious difficulty. Both needed “extensive surgical debridement” and one woman underwent three separate surgeries to remove tissue, which later required reconstructive surgery.

The hospital treated 20 cases between 2022 and 2024, surpassing the total number seen in the previous decade, indicating a concerning rise. Similar increases are being reported in other parts of Europe and the US, with invasive group A Streptococcus (the most common cause) infections doubling in the US between 2013 and 2022.

The number of invasive group A strep infections more than doubled from 2013 to 2022, according to a study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published Monday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Prior to that, rates of invasive strep had been stable for 17 years.

Invasive group A strep occurs when bacteria spread to areas of the body that are normally germ-free, such as the lungs or bloodstream. The same type of bacteria, group A streptococcus, is responsible for strep throat — a far milder infection.

Invasive strep can trigger necrotizing fasciitis, a soft tissue infection also known as flesh-eating disease, or streptococcal toxic shock syndrome, an immune reaction akin to sepsis that can lead to organ failure.

I will start adding the good people of the United Kingdom to my prayers at Mass.

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