Wish they wouldn’t call it “flesh eating bacteria”, strep pyogenes isn’t that scary. Ever had strep throat? Congrats, you survived “flesh eating bacteria”. Sure, it can also be involved with necrotizing fasciitis, but that’s not what’s happening here. Sounds like Japan has a virulent strain of S. pyogenes right now. Japan also has a lot of older people living there and might be affected more. Just seems like the headline is scarier than reality to me.