flesh-eating bacterium

noun

plural flesh-eating bacteria

: a bacterium (such as a Group A streptococcus or MRSA) that causes necrotizing fasciitis

Blunt trauma that doesn't tear the skin can also permit entry of flesh-eating bacteria, according to the CDC.

—Susan Scutti and Jen Christensen

The rise of superbugs that can survive multiple antibiotics—such as MRSA, the notorious "flesh-eating bacterium"—has turned once-trivial infections into persistent problems.

—Valerie Ross

… the notorious streptococcus strain known as "the flesh-eating bacterium."

—Laurie Garrett

Examples of flesh-eating bacterium in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Three deaths in the Northeast from an uncommon flesh-eating bacterium came from both swimming in infected warm water and contaminated raw shellfish. —Tim Newcomb, Popular Mechanics, 6 Sep. 2023

Five people are confirmed dead in the Tampa Bay area because of a flesh-eating bacterium known to lurk at beaches, Florida officials reported. —Chris Pandolfo, Fox News, 19 Aug. 2023

Potentially deadly infections from a type of flesh-eating bacterium could significantly increase in the decades ahead as climate change causes oceans to warm and helps the organisms spread into new coastal areas. —Denise Chow, NBC News, 23 Mar. 2023

Infections caused by a type of deadly, flesh-eating bacterium are becoming more common and widespread as ocean temperatures rise because of climate change. —Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian Magazine, 27 Mar. 2023

In recent years, the flesh-eating bacterium appears to be migrating north. —Denise Chow, NBC News, 23 Mar. 2023

Word History

First Known Use

1994, in the meaning defined above