'Flesh-eating' MRSA threatens Britain

A potentially deadly and highly drug resistant strain of MRSA has developed which can lead to a flesh-eating form of pneumonia, researchers have warned.

Spreading rapidly among gay men in several major US cities, the bug can cause boils as large as tennis balls, blood poisoning or a necrotising condition which eats away at a person's lungs.

The type of Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) was identified in gay men in San Francisco, Boston, New York and Los Angeles.

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