What is necrotizing fasciitis?

Studies show necrotizing fasciitis strikes up to 11,000 people a year in the U.S. Written descriptions of its flesh-eating ways date to the fifth century B.C., courtesy of Hippocrates, the ancient Greek physician known as the father of medicine.

People with good immune systems generally fight off the bacteria, which attacks the skin and invades the subcutaneous tissue just beneath the skin and the fascia, the thin sheath of tissue enclosing a muscle or other organ. The name means “decaying infection of the fascia” and was coined during the Civil War.

Though several types of bacteria cause the infection, the most common is from group A Streptococcus. The bacteria typically enters the body when the skin is broken — even a needle puncture is big enough.