Rare ‘flesh-eating’ STD on the rise in UK, doctor warns

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According to NBC4i, a rare “flesh-eating” sexually transmitted disease is making waves online after a doctor in the United Kingdom warned that it was starting to appear more often in that country.

Granuloma inguinale, also known as donovanosis, is a genital ulcerative disease caused by the bacterium Klebsiella granulomatis, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC says donovanosis causes painless “beefy red” lesions on the genitals that can bleed. These spreading, bleeding lesions led many to call the STD “flesh-eating,” although it does not actually eat the flesh as it spreads.