Rising casualties in Japan from a type of flesh-eating bacteria are causing concern in South Korea. 
 
National Assembly Health and Welfare Committee member Rep. In Jae-keun obtained data from the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the killer bacteria.
 
According to the data, 250-thousand to 300-thousand people in Japan are infected with the bacteria streptococcus hemolyticus each year, and 73 people have died from infections so far this year. 
 
Several million cases are also reported in the United States annually with death tolls rising as high as one-thousand-800.
 
The bacteria can lead to scarlet fever, which has been officially designated as an infectious disease by South Korean health authorities. However, other ailments caused by the bacteria, including infections of soft body tissues and myonecrosis or muscle fiber necrosis, have yet to be officially designated as infectious diseases.