The UK government has urged parents to watch out for signs of a rare invasive form of strep A infection, after a 12-year-old London schoolboy was reported to be the latest person to die after to contract it.
Nadhim Zahawi, a cabinet minister, said that while most cases of strep A were mild, parents should be aware of the symptoms.
“It’s really important to be alert because in the very rare circumstances that it becomes serious, then you need urgent treatment,” he told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge on Sunday. “In most cases it’s going to be a mild case of strep, but it’s highly contagious, so I think the important message to get across this morning is that parents should watch for symptoms, so fever, headache, rash “.
On Saturday, it was reported that an 8-of-12 pupil at a south London school had died after developing the infection, bringing the total number of deaths from the infection to seven.
The UK Health Safety Agency (UKHSA) confirmed on Friday that six children under the age of 10 had died after contracting a strep A infection since September, as it issued a rare alert following an increase of cases throughout the country.
Other confirmed deaths of children after contracting the rare invasive form of the infection include four-year-old Muhammad Ibrahim Ali from Buckinghamshire, who died in an ambulance on the way to hospital.
His mother, Shabana Kousar, told Sky News that her son first developed a red rash on his lower back, which was helped by a course of antibiotics, but two weeks later his condition worsened and developed stomach pains. After his death, an autopsy showed he had strep A in his blood.
“I think parents need to be aware of the symptoms and act accordingly if their child is experiencing something similar,” she said.
Four-year-old Camila Rose Burns has been on a ventilator at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool since Monday after contracting strep A.
Strep A bacteria can cause many health problems, most of which are mild. These may include scarlet fever and, very rarely, invasive group A streptococcal disease (iGAS).
The latest UKHSA data showed rates of scarlet fever and iGAS are two to three times higher than at the same time of year before the pandemic, with cases occurring earlier in the year.
In the week of November 14-20, 851 cases of scarlet fever were reported, compared with an average of 186 for the same period in previous years.
The UKHSA said there was no evidence that a new strain of Strep A was circulating, and that the increase was likely due to large amounts of the bacteria circulating and social mixing.
Oxford MD Dr Helen Salisbury said that while each death was a tragedy, the situation was not new. “There have always been, unfortunately, cases of invasive group A strep. I think there were four infant deaths in 2019,” he said. “It’s always been [but] sometimes it’s worse.”
Salisbury said it was inevitable that GPs would face an increase in the number of parents bringing their children in as a result of concerns about strep A, and there were challenges for GPs in the ‘time to identify which children may develop an invasive infection.
“From a parent’s point of view, it must be very scary. How do you know if this sore throat is just a common or garden sore, or if this is a prelude to something really serious? And I think that’s quite difficult for parents and to some extent for GPs as well,” he said.
“Even if you had all the time in the world and you weren’t in a rush or rush, it’s still hard to tell which child is going to get sick.”
She said parents should look for symptoms that indicate an invasive infection is developing, such as a persistently high temperature, lethargy or flaccidity, not eating or drinking as usual and failure to urinate.
Salisbury also stressed that parents should be able to return to their GP if the child’s condition deteriorates. He expressed concern that this was not always the case.
“I know there are places where they are very, very short of GPs and actually getting an appointment is difficult,” he said. “In general practice we are chronically understaffed long-term, and when something acute like this comes along, that makes it clear.”