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Flesh-Eating Bacteria That Can Kill in Two Days Spreads in Japan
- jmhammond 2y agohttps://archive.is/ROTiQ https://archive.is/ROTiQ
- vsnf 2y ago[flagged]
- throwup238 2y agoKeep reading past the first line of the article: > Other countries have experienced recent outbreaks. In late 2022 at least five European nations reported to the World Health Organization an increase in cases of invasive group A streptococcus (iGAS) disease, which includes STSS. The WHO said the rise in cases followed the end of Covid restrictions.
- georgeplusplus 2y agoTheir point still stands. What is the point of bringing up a unique point in time where confining everyone in their houses reduced interaction with this particular bacteria? The article paints those measures as if they were a good thing and now things have regressed.
- orf 2y agoI don’t read it that way at all. That seems like an overly sensitive interpretation. It’s possible people wash their hands less since COVID restrictions were lifted, or some other knock-on effect. > … as if they were a good thing and now things have regressed. Less “flesh-eating bacteria” in the world is probably always a good thing, independent of anything else.
- simmerup 2y agoThe article does nothing of the sort. It just states what the WHO said. Whether you choose to infer that the author thought covid restrictions were good/bad is your own projection
- eidjcnkak 2y agoNot sure if you’re aware but there’s been strong arguments made that Covid impairs the immune system. One hypothesis was that it could tip things that wouldn’t spread over the line from defeated by most humans to defeated by less humans than necessary to avoid spread. Something like R>1 from 0.9
- ziml77 2y agoOr it could be to indicate that a rise is expected since people are being less careful about spreading disease? Or it could be to say that the restrictions caused immune systems to not be exercised enough so now they are weaker?
- criley2 2y ago>The article paints those measures as if they were a good thing and now things have regressed. I got a totally different vibe: Japan is notoriously xenophobic and maintained extremely strict regulations on visitors that were far more stringent than western countries. So the framing here sounds like a Japanese perspective: "we didn't want you to come, and we started to let you back in, and look what happened to us" which is probably a popular sentiment there.
- tessierashpool 2y agotheir “point” does not stand. they don’t even have a point. they cherry-picked an ideological hot button to be mad about for no legitimate reason. it is absurd to suggest those measures were not a good thing, and factually inaccurate to say that the article expresses or implies any opinion about them whatsoever. it doesn’t. it’s an article about a rise in cases. it mentions when the cases started rising.
- vsnf 2y agoplease don’t mistake me for some kind of anti-vaccine anti-mask zealot. Having diligently participated in all the responsible social and personal anti-covid measures, my take on the article remains that it was a bizarre choice for the author to so directly entangle the two things together. CDC comments not withstanding, the flesh eating bacteria is enough of an eye catching story on its own, it doesn’t need to be attached to another horrible disease to be an interesting article.
- pohl 2y agoThere’s nothing bizarre at all about mentioning the recent prominent contagious disease crisis in an article about another rising contagion. It would be kind of weird not to.
- vsnf 2y agoI think I’m being misinterpreted, which is on me for being unclear. To address a sibling commenter first: no, I don’t think any mention of covid is a political statement, that’d be absurd. We all experienced the mayhem, fear, and uncertainty together, and most of us, though sadly not all of us, made it out alive. It itself is not political. But it is often made to be. I find the articles opening sentence is phrased in a way as to be invoking a boogeyman, not least to which is because covid restrictions in japan were relaxed two years ago. The phrasing implies a strongly direct correlation, rather than a more nebulous one where all diseases would increase by the same reduction in measures. The overt entanglement in the opening sentence feels like baiting a response by disingenuous or superfluous association. The article would have stood stronger on its own legs, I feel.
- _Microft 2y agoKikuchi urged people to maintain hand hygiene and to treat any open wounds. People washed and disinfected their hands a lot more often and thoroughly during the pandemic. At least here in Germany. They stopped shaking hands, washed them thoroughly (at least twenty seconds, using soap) and disinfected them when entering or leaving stores. Now they shake hands again and the disinfectant is gone. Who knows how everyone is washing their hands today. It’s not far fetched to suspect that this behavior might have helped.
- fallingknife 2y agoNotice they said "followed" not "caused." But maybe it did cause it. Reducing human contact will slow transmission of all diseases. It's sort of weird to bring it up in an article like this because if this is the explanation it's really not "an increase in outbreaks" it's just getting back to the normal rate.
- dingnuts 2y ago> Reducing human contact will slow transmission of all diseases I find it difficult to disabuse myself of the notion that there are people who see this simple statement as justification to return to enforcing certain pandemic era countermeasures permanently as part of a "new normal"
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- georgeplusplus 2y ago[flagged]
- AlexandrB 2y agoWhat do you mean "has become"? "Always has been". Remember "Bin Laden's Mountain Fortress"[1]? [1] https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/tora-bora-tunnel-kingdom-wasnt-lessons-fake-news https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/tora-bora-tunnel-kin...
- newzisforsukas 2y agoNot saying this is the case here, but yellow journalism and practicing news literacy aren't new things.
- rgrieselhuber 2y ago[flagged]
- slama 2y agoFrom the WHO report: > This is in the context of increased population mixing following a period of reduced circulation of GAS during the COVID-19 pandemic. The article is merely restating the WHO report and not adding any new political takes. The downvotes are because the comment is incorrect.
- rgrieselhuber 2y agoWell at least you took the time to comment. Downvotes with no commentary and which merely reinforce institutional narratives add no value to these sorts of discussions IMO. I think that HN would be much improved by a “you must submit a thoughtful comment or counter-argument when downvoting” guideline.
- newzisforsukas 2y agohttps://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2024/06/15/world/science-health/post-covid-sickness-rise/ https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2024/06/15/world/science-h...
- musha68k 2y agoGood analysis; more focus should also be put on asymptomatic reinfections: "Even a mild or asymptomatic infection can harm the immune system. It can make you susceptible to new diseases that might not have bothered you before, but now, with your weakened immune system, these new diseases can find a foothold and attack you. Also, conditions that may have been dormant or held in check in your body by your immune system could resurface now that it’s weakened – things like shingles, HIV, or a resurgence of herpes. We’re seeing resurgences of all those things in the general population. We’re also seeing a resurgence in measles, whooping cough, and polio — all these things that we thought we’d gotten rid of. Whooping cough cases have been exploding in the UK. Our mass herd immunity is weakened and those diseases are all coming up again. Beyond that, getting a COVID infection can double your risk of heart attack, increase the risk of stroke by three times, and double the risk of diabetes. All these things happen as a result of your COVID infection, and they persist for as much as two years, even if you had a mild or even an asymptomatic infection." https://www.ineteconomics.org/perspectives/blog/from-long-covid-odds-to-lost-iq-points-ongoing-threats-you-dont-know-about https://www.ineteconomics.org/perspectives/blog/from-long-co...
- musha68k 2y agoIt could be tied to sars-cov2 and its detrimental longtime effects on general immune system function amongst other things related to the pandemic. To be checked on a case by case basis of course, don't know about these specific bacteria.. Don't look up the latest science on asymptomatic reinfections unless you really want to find out more.
- flykespice 2y agoThere is nothing or any hint about that quote being politically charged at all. You just making up things in your head.
- klyrs 2y ago> I wonder why they opted for a political framing of the article What an interesting turn of phrase. In my mind, reducing interpersonal contact will obviously reduce interpersonal transmission of all infectious diseases. The policies surrounding covid reduced not just covid but also colds, flus, etc. That's a matter of obvious, well-understood cause&effect and strongly supported by the data. But your reaction here is clearly and overtly political. Is the framing of the article "political framing" or is your kneejerk response "political framing?" Is it possible to mention covid policy without that being perceived as a political act, or is it merely taboo?
- HeatrayEnjoyer 2y agoWhere did they say it is political? I don't see that mentioned anywhere in the link. There's nothing political about public health measures (even if some try to argue as such).
- 123yawaworht456 2y ago[flagged]
- bamboozled 2y agoKikuchi urged people to maintain hand hygiene and to treat any open wounds. He said patients may carry GAS in their intestines, which could contaminate hands through faeces. Not really surprised, in Japan I often find toilets have a single tap with cold water and no soap. It’s quite disgusting. Lots of train stations are like this.
- abejfehr 2y agoThat is true, but I still can't reconcile how faeces get on their hands in the first place when it's overwhelmingly common to use bidets
- doctorwho42 2y agoYou should look up the aerosolization of patterns of toilet contents when toilets are flushed.
- bamboozled 2y agoFunnily enough a lot of Bidet toilets in Japan have a suction function for this reason.
- dclowd9901 2y ago… I have to think there’s also probably some manner of aerisolization when you spray with water too. I’m actually really confused by why people like bidets so much. Maybe I just don’t get how they work? On paper, it just seems more prone to the aforementioned issue and also getting the rest of your groinal region as dirty as your anus.
- hn_version_0023 2y agoAs a fairly hirsute gentleman, a bidet has been life changing for me. I am so much cleaner— the only way to be even cleaner would be to get in the shower! Now maybe that is all in my head? But honestly if you’ve ever tried to clean, say, peanut butter out of a shag carpet using only dry paper… well you have some ideas of what my struggle has been. With apologies for the graphic image; hopefully it elicits a chuckle from someone :)
- bamboozled 2y agoWould be nice if the article provided a bit more context / history? Is this a new thing ? Etc
- belter 2y agohttps://www.cdc.gov/group-a-strep/about/streptococcal-toxic-shock-syndrome.html https://www.cdc.gov/group-a-strep/about/streptococcal-toxic-...
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- heisenbit 2y agoJapan has a really old population which makes this a major concern for them (median age >50 a decade more than the US). It makes it also harder extrapolating this to other countries. Density of susceptible persons makes a difference when it vomes to spreading (herd immunity, hospital transmissions).
- 39s 2y agooi, pandemic 2.0?
- cpach 2y agoBacteria can be incredibly nasty but I would guess they are less likely to cause a pandemic than viruses.
- echelon 2y agoIt's less likely, but bacteria do cause pandemics. Yersinia pestis, the most well-known example. Or Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which is still a major cause of death today. Or even parasites, such as plasmodium.
- fuzzy_biscuit 2y agoAfter seeing the archive text, it's bizarre to me that this article is pay-walled. It's 4 paragraphs long. I don't get it.
- kurthr 2y agoCome on, it's Bloomberg, and besides it's not like it's an immediate deadly health risk... oh wait.
- ethbr1 2y ago> ...can be followed by necrosis... Never a symptom you want to read.
- mdp2021 2y agoNor this: > Many people with STSS also need surgery to remove infected tissue (From the CDC "Streptococcal Toxic Shock Syndrome" page, link in other comments here.)
- angelsbrood 2y agoSounds frightening. I hope no one is hurt!
- hn_throwaway_99 2y agoI feel like we get these "flesh-eating bacteria" scares in the media every couple years, and then all of the sudden you just don't hear about it anymore for another couple years. Just has led me to conclude it's something that's always "there" in the background but not really something to worry about except for specific sub-populations that basically always have to worry about it.
- namaria 2y agoAppearing in the media is a bad indicator. Look up antibiotic resistant infection clusters. There might be one near you, but it won't make the news because they've been there for many years.
- _f9cu 2y agojust like corona, which survived for a five years of effect. Bacteria's impact are for two years, virus impact are for five years. Then what impacts for ten years?
- hn_throwaway_99 2y ago> Bacteria's impact are for two years, virus impact are for five years. Did you just make this up?
- w0z_ 2y agoYes they did.
- theGnuMe 2y agoThis is antibiotic resistant strep. Kids get strep all the time from basically not washing their hands consistently.