Curse of the killer bug.

In May 1994, a ghastly, mysterious illness which caused body tissue to disintegrate broke out in Stroud, Gloucestershire. This was diagnosed as necrotising fasciitis, a disease caused by a common and normally harmless streptococcus. The first cases are described, with the subsequent closure of Stroud Hospital, and the procedures and public health measures brought into action in such emergencies. There were seven cases in the Stroud area, with two deaths. The programme examines the possible sources of the infection and comments on the growing problem of antibiotic resistance.