Mysterious flesh-eating bacteria is raging in Australia

Enlarge / A beach on Mornington Peninsula, a hotbed for the mysterious disease. (credit: Fir0002)

In the last year, cases of a ghastly but mysterious flesh-eating bacterial infection have more than doubled in Victoria, Australia, raising alarm among health experts.

There were 239 cases of the flesh-eating infections in the past 12 months, according to figures (PDF) released this week by health authorities. In 2016, there were only 102 reported cases, while 2015 and 2014 tallied just 58 and 47. And the rate of new infections is currently skyrocketing: in the past few months, case counts hit nine per week, according to Australia's Nine News. The number of severe cases has also doubled.

While the rises alone are enough to worry health experts, the fact that virtually nothing is known about the cause of the infection has some dismayed.

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