Babbar A, et al. - Researchers planned this study to determine the role of pathogen-specific antibodies in the manifestation of necrotizing Soft Tissue Infections (NSTI) by performing a comparative serology approach using plasma samples and bacterial isolates from clinical NSTI and non NSTI cases caused by Streptococcus pyogenes. The potential beneficial effect of intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) treatment was also assessed. In this study, all the included NSTI patients exhibited a deficiency in specific antibodies directed against the causative S. pyogenes strains and the majority of their exotoxins during the initial stage of the infection. During the course of infection, the clinical application of IVIG compensated the observed antibody deficiency, however was unable to prevent the disease progression, once tissue necrosis was developed. Observations thereby highlighted the requirement of pre-existing pathogen-specific antibodies to prevent the irreversible progression of tissue infections into severely spreading NSTI.