British overreact to flesh-eating bacteria

British tabloids call the disease ''meat-eating'' because it targets flesh and muscle tissue. Eleven victims in Britain have died since Jan. 1.

But Dr. Malak Kotb, director of surgical immunology at the UT-Memphis Medical Center and the Veterans Administration Hospital, said British newspapers overreacted to the illness which she said does not threaten the general population.

Kotb said UT-Memphis, collaborating with clinicians in Idaho and Toronto, examined blood cells of affected patients and determined that the bacteria cause tissue damage and the immune system to overreact.

''We have isolated (identified) in our laboratory in Memphis a new kind of superantigen -- a toxin -- that is causing this illness, known as streptococcal toxic shock syndrome,'' Kotb said.

People exposed to the superantigen react differently to it, she said.

''Each person's immune system is different. And the way the immune system flares up, and how that person can regulate such a flare-up, varies drastically from one person to another,'' Kotb said.

''The same bacteria can go into one person and cause nothing, go into another person and cause this devastating disease, and only mild disease in a third person.

"People who experience severe pain and fever following a wound infection or a sore throat should see a doctor because once the cascade starts, it is very difficult to control,'' she said.

Kotb said the bacteria produce toxins which are very powerful stimulators of the immune system ''and can lead to the overproduction of inflammatory mediators which can cause tissue destruction and death.''

Superantigens are produced by the streptococcus bacteria and by a virus living within the bacteria, Kotb said. The bacteria do not directly cause the destruction of human flesh, she said.

''The overstimulation of the human immune system in response to superantigens and other bacterial virulence factors is responsible for the tissue destruction,'' Kotb said.

The UT-Memphis laboratory and others throughout the nation now will focus on finding a way to control the body's reaction to the bacteria-induced superantigens, she said.

Kotb agreed with Dr. James Hadler, chief epidemiologist for the state of Connecticut, that people should not panic because of the illness. The World Health Organization said there is no reason to fear a global outbreak of the illness.

Dr. Edward Kaplan, director of a WHO laboratory at the University of Minnesota, said infectious diseases ''run in cycles.''

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 500 to 1,500 such infections occur each year in the United States.