Through the medicinal world, many types of progressions/types of bacteria have been discovered, and each has been thought to have been properly labeled on its affect severity on a given environment. One recently exposed disease known as Necrotizing Fasciitis has become more common, and even coined the name as the "flesh eating bacteria." Although the infection is known to be rare in nature, an epidemic of this infection is likely. In effect, our common hygiene practices and population dense environments in conjunction with the nature of this disease makes an epidemic imminent.

To comprehend the threat of this disease however, one must first understand its nature of infection and spread, to understand further cases. The infection is mainly KNOWN to exist within a pre-severed wound, or one that has basically already been exposed to high amounts of bacteria. People with immune systems are also very susceptible to this infection, as the infection is blood-to-tissue based. Breakouts of this disease have occurred in the past in the 1800's, but the have been very minute. One of the main concerning issues with NF includes that it's beginning stages have similar symptoms of any other minor bacterial infection, which include things as small has a fever, or a minor runny nose. Within a matter of days however, this immediately transfers into a fatal stage infection, where full recovery of the host is very unlikely.  To be specific, a minor rash in the arm has the ability to quickly become a massive decompositional outbreak, which is medically known as gangrene.  If the patient does not treat the rash outbreak, the infection will inevitably reach the inner muscle and bone, insuring complete and irreversible organ failure.
 
It is also important to know how Necrotizing fasciitis affects populations today, before one can realize the extended threat it presents. NF, as it's symptoms provide, has a very high fatality rate among the people diagnosed, with 20% fatality rate among people diagnosed at the earliest stage, and a 100% rate on people that are diagnosed any further. With these rates, there is also about 10,000 to 11,0000 cases of NF causing bacteria per year, accompanied by 2000 deaths per year by said bacteria, which from previous studies grows higher periodically due to general increase of population.  The bacterial infection coined the name "flesh eating bacteria" from its general effect on the patient. Most tissue that gets infected by this disease is subject to removal, as there yet isn't any medicinal way to completely rid the patient's body of the bacteria, not even antibiotics, because the infection spread is so rapid.  Once limbs and/or tissue is reached the infection, the organs will always need to be removed. Many medicinal practitioners consider NF considered one of the most aggressive and fatal infections in existence.
 
Many people commonly say that they have never heard of the infection, and assume that there have never been any outbreaks, that couldn't be further from the truth. Throughout the last millennia NF was discovered, the cases of NF have continuously grown in occurrence, and severity.  In the last decade, there have even been miniature outbreaks of NF, each growing larger and larger in size. And even bigger concern is how most of these cases contradict popular belief on the behavior of the disease. It was commonly thought that NF was lowly contagious, and that surrounding people were in no danger of catching the disease, however the 2012 case in Honduras proved otherwise. Starting on February 1st, a 60 year old man was first diagnosed with Necrotizing Fasciitis at the "Hospital Escuela" in Honduras. This man wasn't kept in any significant quarantine, as the participants at the hospital thought that he wouldn't be able to spread it to other patients. Well although no significant transfusion between the infected patient and other patients was recorded, with in 3 weeks many others began to catch the disease, with 2 people dying per week.  Oddly enough, many of the patients who caught the disease acquired it within the same region of their body, their groinal region, and also all had semi-weak immune systems. Here, the infectious potential of NF shows how fast and effectively it can spread within an environment, even a hospital.  Another myth that exists of this disease is that a person has to have an open wound in order to catch NF, which would apparently make it difficult for it to spread among a population.  The Hilton Head case of February 2012 reports a man that was able to contract the disease without having any wounds at all. There were also no reported immune-deficiencies on the male who contracted the disease. After all medical possibilities were ruled out, It can be logically assumed that he contracted the disease merely by coming in contact with food, or an object which simply had the bacteria on it, which realized it's status as an actual infectious disease. NF, although not known by many, can actually spread through not only food, but simple materials such as drugs. In the 1999 case of California, the use of black tar heroin both directly, and indirectly caused a quick, reasonably sized outbreak. How this worked was the people that used black tar heroin experienced the known side effect of a weakened immune system, but previously, it can be assumed that the main source of the heroin came in contact with the disease. Through this situation, people were contracted NF from the infected Drugs, the handler who also most likely became infect, and the lowered immune systems the victims experienced, which made it even easier for the disease to effectively spread. Statistical breakdown shows that 10 people instantly became infected one after the other, with 6 people out of that ten experiencing swift death, and more periodically following. Most of these victims were not able to tell they were infected, because of the swift onset of fatal stage infection. Through these three cases, it can be provided that the disease is highly infectious, can spread through materials and food, and can occur within healthy individuals, tying it in contagion level of common illnesses such as the common cold.
 
Luckily, because the specimen of the bacteria which causes Necrotizing fasciitis has had its outbreaks within smaller sized areas, it would take a considerable push for this specimen to reach a highly populated environment in order for it to wreak its havoc. Take New York City for example. Many of the goods and/or materials in New York City have been handled by many employees, many of which may be experiencing sub optimal living conditions.  Theoretically, all it would really take to begin an onset of a widespread infection would one of those employees, within a workplace housing hundreds of workers, to handle goods such as clothing, packaging. Now this individual would most likely not know he is even carrying the disease, because of the pre-mentioned fact that it only becomes fully lethal in its final stage of infection.  The employee would then likely infect the product, which would then reach a customer, whom would also come in contact. Because the disease doesn't reach final stage until about a week, both individuals may still be completely unaware they are carrying a life ending bacteria, thus cannot truly be quarantined. Through this theoretical situation, the disease from this point could reach 1000's of other individuals who would also not be aware they are infected. The true problematic nature of the disease within a populated environment is that it spreads exponentially among individuals, when one realizes they have it, many others are most likely already infected. It is indeed a concerning thought for this infection to reach such a vital area within a population dense living environment, but the only thing standing in the way, is the introduction of the disease to that environment, making the case, theoretical or not, seem way more imminent. 
	
In this last point, human error most likely may play a great part in this disease reaching a higher population.  Hygiene malpractice plays a key role in spreading the majority of diseases we catch today, and can even lead to a high volume spread of severe infections. To understand how concerning our current hygiene practices are and how we basically get our own selves sick the majority of the time, one can turn to a comprehensive survey based study done by H.S.U.K., or the organization known as "Hygienic Solutions U.K." According to their studies based on major populations, 60% of men do not wash their hands after using the restroom, with 40% of women doing the same. As the restroom is a huge carrier for bacteria, this is a very concerning point among common practice, but an even more interesting statistic arises among those employed. The study furthers states the 53 % of employed workers do not wash their hands before preparing food. When you combine this fact with 40/60 % of people not washing their hands after visiting a restroom, it can be theoretically stated that a restaurant containing multiple cooks will at least have one person preparing food with hands are undoubtedly carrying bacteria commonly found in a restroom. If simply one of those cooks was carrying a severe topical infection such Necrotizing Fasciitis on his/her hands, that individual is putting the lives of everyone within that establishment at severe risk. Even though one could argue that the person is cooking the food and possibly eliminating bacteria from it, the individual is still handling goods that will remain uncooked, such as lettuce, seafood ect. The study implies that employees who deal with food are effectively spreading bacteria, but the consumers certainly do not better the situation neither. According to the H.S.U.K., "Over half the teenagers surveyed said they did not always wash their hands before eating lunch at school, even though two-thirds had a meal such as a packed lunch or burger and chips which they had to eat using their hands" (1). Even non-adults are commonly known as effective carriers of diseases, this is still quite problematic information, knowing that eating/oral contact with hands is an effective habit in acquiring illnesses. These two sets of statistics can be connected to provide an accurate model on how effective teenagers acquire and spread bacteria. Implying that teenagers are dealt food within an environment the majority of the time through a fast food restaurant or an educationally provided cafeteria, it can also be provided that those who employed, providing the food are adults. With the statistic stating that 40/60% of adults don't wash their hands before dealing food, one could finally conclude that teenagers will inevitably encounter bacteria within any major health environment, due to inconsistencies in hygiene. Arguably, if one person were to be handling food in an environment such as this with a topical infection such as Necrotizing Fasciitis, it is highly probable that that one person could start a reasonably sized outbreak among the people he prepares food for. Theoretically, if this would happen, consumers who came in contact with the disease would not even suspect they would be carrying it until days later, which would allow NF to spread even further unnoticed. The common malpractice of hygiene among people contributes well to the spread of many diseases, and under bad circumstances, could effectively even spread NF throughout a large quantity of people ultimately causing an epidemic.  
	
Although Necrotizing Fasciitis is not well known throughout the common population, it still stands as a strong threat to both populated and non-populated environments. It's hard to track traits create a good amount of concern in the medicine world, as the symptoms go from slow, to suddenly aggressive. In all, because of the nature of the bacteria, the effectiveness of its spread, and the sub-optimal hygiene practices of modern society, Necrotizing Fasciitis is very likely to one day become a widespread epidemic if it is not properly contained.
