MRSA, the “superbug”, can cause necrotising fasciitis, a “flesh-eating” disease, American doctors have found.

A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine has found an alarming number of cases of MRSA causing the condition, which destroys skin and muscle and can lead to lost limbs or death.

Doctors in Los Angeles reviewed the records of 843 patients treated for MRSA infection contracted in the community and discovered 14 who had symptoms of necrotising fasciitis.

Although the condition can be caused by a number of infectrions, the normal culprit is Streptococcus bacteria. MRSA, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, is from a different bacterial family and cases of Staphylococcus producing necrotising fasciitis are rare. However, the doctors found that the drug-resistant version of MRSA was much more likely to turn flesh-eater.

“Staphylococcus aureus has been a very uncommon cause of necrotising fasciitis, but we have recently noted an alarming number of these infections caused by community- associated methicillin-resistant S. aureus,” the team wrote.

Most of the patients were men, with an average age of 46. They had caught the infection in the community, not in hospital, where most MRSA cases appear. None died, but the infection caused serious complications, “including the need for reconstructive surgery and prolonged stay in the intensive-care unit”.

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