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<ul class="summary-list"><li>Cases of streptococcal toxic shock syndrome (STSS) have risen suddenly in Japan this year.</li><li>The rare and deadly bacterial infection affects blood and tissue. </li></ul>In Japan, cases of an uncommon but deadly bacterial infection have spiked in recent months, concerning health officials, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2024/06/19/japan-stss-flesh-eating-bacteria/">the Washington Post reported</a>.Since January 2024, officials from Japan's Health Ministry have <a target="_blank" href="https://www.city.kyoto.lg.jp/hokenfukushi/cmsfiles/contents/0000326/326147/topics202423.pdf">reported</a> 1,019 cases of streptococcal toxic shock syndrome (STSS), a bacterial infection without a vaccine and treated with antibiotics. At least 77 deaths have been reported due to these STSS infections, with most fatal cases occurring in people over 50.Officials from Japan's Health Ministry said they are unsure what has caused the sudden increase in cases. But they find the surge alarming, considering that fewer than 1,000 cases of STSS were reported in the country in 2023.<h2 id="67b97131-b450-4e76-a0fa-1566914ef7db">STSS causes and symptoms</h2>STSS is caused by bacteria called <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cdc.gov/group-a-strep/hcp/clinical-guidance/streptococcal-toxic-shock-syndrome.html#:~:text=Streptococcal%20toxic%20shock%20syndrome%20(STSS,specific%20organs%20that%20are%20failing.">group-A Streptococcus</a> (GAS), according to the CDC.This particular bacteria also causes mild infections like strep throat since it is commonly found in the throat and on the skin.But if GAS gets into a person's bloodstream or tissue through open wounds or sores, their organs may start to fail within 24 to 48 hours, as per the CDC website. GAS has also been linked to necrotizing fasciitis, an <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/man-died-flesh-eating-bacteria-necrotizing-fasciitis-strep-a-2023-4">infection that causes a "flesh-eating" disease.</a>According to the CDC, three in 10 people who develop STSS are likely to die.Flu-like symptoms such as chills, fever, and muscle aches are often the first signs someone has STSS. More severe symptoms that signal organ failure due to STSS include:<ul><li>Low blood pressure signs include dizziness, blurred vision, weakness, nausea, and headaches.</li><li>An abnormally rapid heart rate</li><li>Abnormally rapid breathing</li></ul>If someone has these symptoms, they should go to the hospital right away, according to the CDC.Treatment typically involves replacing bodily fluids and antibiotics. According to the CDC, surgery may be needed to remove tissue infected by the GAS bacteria in some cases.<h2 id="f392bb71-7686-4600-81ae-e755046eb5df">Infections like STSS are on the rise globally</h2>Steer told the Washington Post that "we've had streptococcal toxic shock syndrome and invasive strep A infection in the US for decades and decades and decades, hundreds of years."However, it's an uncommon infection, and healthcare providers should take the sudden uptick in STSS cases in Japan as a cue to increase their awareness of potential symptoms among their patients, said Andrew Steer, director of infection, immunity, and global health at Murdoch Children's Research Institute in Melbourne, Australia.Since the coronavirus pandemic, health officials worldwide have expressed concern about <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rare-flesh-eating-disease-rises-as-bacteria-move-north-2023-3">increasing bacterial </a>and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2023/02/other-infections-rising-since-covid-pandemic/">viral infection</a> rates.In 2022, UK health officials reported <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-we-dont-have-a-strep-a-vaccine-2022-12">19 child deaths due to group-A streptococcal infections</a>, the same bacteria that causes STSS.Vaccines could help prevent the spread of these rare but potentially deadly bacterial infections, health experts said. However, creating one has proven to be a decadeslong process that is still in progress due to financial and scientific hurdles.

A sudden spike in cases of a rare infection often linked to flesh-eating bacteria is happening in Japan

London, Headaches, memory problems, and fatigue -- commonly known to continue post a Covid-19 infection -- may be a result of inflammation in the rest of the body and not because SARS-CoV-2 infects the brain, claims a new research. Early on in the pandemic, researchers surmised that direct infection of the brain could be the cause behind these neurological symptoms. Many studies have also proposed the effect of <keyword id="19896627" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="covid" source="keywords">Covid</keyword> virus on the brain symptoms. But a study by researchers at the Charite- Universitatsmedizin Berlin in Germany has now produced evidence to support the new theory. "We took that as our hypothesis at the start, too. But so far, there has been no clear evidence that the coronavirus can persist in the brain, let alone proliferate," said <keyword id="20621224" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="dr-helena-radbruch" source="keywords">Dr Helena Radbruch</keyword>, head of the Chronic Neuroinflammation working group at the Department of Neuropathology at Charite. "For that, we would have needed to find evidence of intact virus particles in the brain, for example. Instead, the indications that the coronavirus could infect the brain come from indirect testing methods, so they aren't entirely conclusive," <keyword id="20621226" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="radbruch" source="keywords">Radbruch</keyword> added. According to a second hypothesis, the neurological symptoms would instead be a kind of side effect of the strong immune response the body deploys to defend against the virus. For the study, the team of researchers analysed various areas of the brain in 21 people who died in hospital settings, typically in an ICU, due to severe coronavirus infection. For comparison, the researchers studied nine patients who died of other causes after treatment in intensive care. First, they looked to see whether the tissue showed any visible changes and hunted for any indication of coronavirus. Then they conducted a detailed analysis of genes and proteins to identify the specific processes that had taken place inside individual cells. Like other teams of researchers before them, the Charite scientists found coronavirus genetic material in the brain in some cases. "But we didn't find neurons infected with SARS-CoV-2," Radbruch noted. "We assume that immune cells absorbed the virus in the body and then travelled to the brain. They're still carrying the virus, but it doesn't infect cells of the brain. So coronavirus has invaded other cells in the body, but not the brain itself." Still, the researchers did note striking changes in molecular processes in some cells of the brain in those infected with Covid-19: For example, the cells ramped up the interferon signalling pathway, which is typically activated in the course of a viral infection. "Some neurons evidently react to the inflammation in the rest of the body," said Prof. <keyword id="20621225" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="christian-conrad" source="keywords">Christian Conrad</keyword>, head of the <keyword id="20621227" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="intelligent-imaging" source="keywords">Intelligent Imaging</keyword> working group at the Berlin Institute of Health at Charite (BIH) and one of the principal investigators in the study. "This molecular reaction could be a good explanation for the neurological symptoms we see in Covid-19 patients. For example, neurotransmitters emitted by these cells in the brainstem could cause fatigue. That's because the brainstem is home to groups of cells that control drive, motivation, and mood." Further, the team found that the neurons' reaction to the inflammation is temporary, as shown by a comparison of people who died during an acute coronavirus infection with those who died at least two weeks afterward. The molecular changes are most evident during the acute infection phase, but they do normalise again afterward -- at least in the vast majority of cases.

Covid infection may not be responsible for memory problems & fatigue says new study

Variation in genes encoding proteins involved in immune responses could be behind why some people remain asymptomatic following <keyword id="9003584" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="sars-cov-2-infection" source="Orion">SARS-CoV-2 infection</keyword>. Human leukocyte antigen (HLA) genes encode these proteins used by the immune system in identifying and distinguishing healthy cells in the body from infected ones. Research has shown at least 20 % of Covid-infected do not develop symptoms, or remain asymptomatic. Critical to one's immunity and highly varied among individuals, the HLA system might have specific variants rendering them more protected against or vulnerable to Covid, the researchers in this US-Australia collaborative study wondered. Studying asymptomatic infection may improve our understanding of the features of the immune system that promote rapid clearance of the virus, the study published in the journal Nature said. To understand if an HLA variation might predispose some people to asymptomatic <keyword id="9114543" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="covid-infection" source="Orion">Covid infection</keyword>, the researchers enrolled 29,947 individuals to participate in a smartphone-based study designed to track COVID-19 symptoms and outcomes. All of them were DNA sequenced for their HLA genetic profiling. A total of 1,428 unvaccinated individuals reported a positive test for infection with SARS-CoV-2 and 136 of them reported having no symptoms. One in five individuals who remained asymptomatic after infection were found to carry a common variant of HLA called HLA-B*15:01. People carrying two copies of this variant were more than eight times likely to remain asymptomatic than those carrying other versions of HLA, the study found. "We hypothesised that their immune system could react so fast and powerfully that the virus was eliminated before causing any symptoms. It's like having an army that already knows what to look for and can tell by the uniform that these are the bad guys," according to Jill Hollenbach, professor at the University of California San Francisco, US. In a separate arm of the study, the researchers found that individuals carrying HLA-B*15:01 with no prior exposure to SARS-CoV-2 had T cells (a type of immune cell) that were reactive to SARS-CoV-2 protein fragments sharing some genetic sequences with other seasonal coronaviruses. This finding indicated that people carrying HLA-B*15:01 and previously exposed to seasonal cold viruses had pre-existing immunity to SARS-CoV-2 and could rapidly eliminate the virus before symptoms could present. The researchers analysed this to be because the T cells from pre-pandemic individuals, that could identify viral particles from past coronaviruses, created an immunological memory from the previous coronaviruses. These memory T cells recognise SARS-CoV-2, owing to its high similarities with those coronaviruses, and kill it very quickly. "So, even if the bad guys changed the uniform, the army would still be able to identify them by their boots or maybe a tattoo on their arms. That is how our immunological memory works to keep us healthy," said Danillo Augusto, assistant professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, US.

Scientists may have found the reason behind asymptomatic Covid infections: Genetic variation in immune system

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A sudden spike in cases of a rare infection often linked to flesh-eating bacteria is happening in Japan

Julia Naftulin

Covid infection may not be responsible for memory problems & fatigue says new study

IANS

Scientists may have found the reason behind asymptomatic Covid infections: Genetic variation in immune system

PTI

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