Someone has died of flesh-eating disease in both Quebec and Manitoba this week, health officials said. Quebec has had 61 known cases of the disease so far this year.

Flesh-eating disease facts

  • Flesh-eating disease is an infection that works its way rapidly through the layers of tissue (the fascia) that surround muscles.

  • It is estimated that there are between 90 and 200 cases per year in Canada, and about 20 to 30 per cent of these are fatal.

  • The symptoms of flesh-eating disease include a high fever, and a red, severely painful swelling that feels hot and spreads rapidly.

  • Sometimes the swelling starts at the site of a minor injury, such as a small cut or bruise, but in other cases there is no obvious source of infection.

  • Health Canada emphasizes the disease is very rare.

    Source: Health Canada

    • Flesh-eating disease is the common name for necrotizing fasciitis, a disease caused by bacteria called group A streptococcus. They are found on the skin, and are usually harmless.

    In rare cases, the bacteria can cause an infection that can harm flesh or can even kill a person in 12 to 24 hours.

    A federal study and provincial data show that necrotizing fasciitis from group A streptococcus occurs in about three to seven persons per one million population per year.

    While rare, necrotizing fasciitis is fatal in approximately 20 to 30 per cent of cases, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada's website.

    On the weekend, a man in St-Georges-de-Beauce, Que., died of the disease, after being treated for a group A streptococcus infection.

    His condition rapidly deteriorated early in the weekend and he died in the intensive care ward Saturday.

    Dr. Christian Fortin of the Centre hospitalier universitaire de Québec notes that "these are all isolated cases that we have. They appear, here and there, all over the country.

    "And often, because it is a common bacterium, we cannot determine why certain people get major symptoms from the bacterium, and others don't."

    No one knows why cases are on the rise, but officials in Quebec say all hygienic measures are being taken to ensure the bacterium did not spread to other patients or hospital staff.

    Risk of spreading the disease is considered low.

    Meanwhile, doctors in Brandon, Man., have treated two patients for flesh-eating disease in the past week.

    One of them died, but it's not clear if the disease contributed to the death. The other person is in stable condition.

    Both male patients, one in his 40s and one in his 70s, are from the Sioux Valley Dakota Nation, about 35 kilometres west of Brandon, a health official said.

    Municipal health officials declined to identify the patients or where they live.