This sounds an awful condition: http://www.rugbyadvertiser.co.uk/news/local-news/pet-owners-urged-to-be-aware-of-deadly-flesh-rotting-disease-in-dogs-1-6716376

Not nice at all and it appears the cause isn't known.

Poor dogs and other animals, I don't understand where this bug is coming from.
Years ago you could let your dog run free through the glen, or over the fields and with never a thought of such a thing existing. Dogs used to pick up ticks and that's all I remember.
Rabbits got Myxomatosis disease but we don't here much of of that now.