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

Blood and tissue samples turned up positive for Vibrio vulnificus, a flesh-eating bacterium found in warm, brackish waters. — Beth Mole, ArsTechnica, 28 Apr. 2026

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

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

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

Word History

First Known Use

1994, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for flesh-eating bacterium

• agrobacterium
• corynebacterium
• mycobacterium
• cyanobacterium
• delirium
• deuterium
• imperium
• puerperium
• venereum
• magisterium
• ministerium