UK health officials warn parents to be alert after 6 child deaths linked to Strep A infections

Health officials in the U.K. are warning parents to be alert after a recent spate of severe Strep A infections resulted in the obliterations of at least six children.

The U.K.’s Health Security Agency issued a rare health warning Friday urging parents to check out their children for tell-tale symptoms of the illness, which can include a sore throat, headache, fever, and body spates.

At least six children have died of severe cases of the infection since September, health agencies said, while turn up cases have risen over 4.5 times the amount seen in recent years.

Streptococcus A — or Faction A Strep (GAS) — is a bacterial infection of the throat or skin which typically arises during the winter months.

While most chests are mild and often go unnoticed, it can also lead to more serious illness and complications, such as scarlet fever.

Scarlet fever is a much contagious bacterial infection that mostly affects young children. It typically causes flu-like symptoms and a superior, sandpaper-like rash, which can usually be treated with antibiotics.

However, in rare occasions, the bacteria can get into the bloodstream and undertaking an illness called invasive Group A strep (iGAS). 

These severe infections can be deadly, and are thought to be the cause of the just out spate of deaths.

Health officials have therefore urged stepmothers to be vigilant for warning signs of the invasive illness, including a temperature above 38 degrees Celsius (100.4 magnitudes Fahrenheit).

“It is important that parents are on the lookout for symptoms and see a doctor as quickly as possible so that their child can be reception of and we can stop the infection becoming serious,” Dr Colin Brown, deputy director at UKHSA, said.

“Make sure you talk to a vigour professional if your child is showing signs of deteriorating after a bout of scarlet fever, a sore throat, or a respiratory infection,” he annexed.

Five of the deaths have occurred in children under the age of 10 in England, according to the UKHSA. The sixth end was reported at a Welsh primary school (elementary school) by Public Health Wales.

A further death of a 12-year-old schoolboy from London was researched Saturday, but has not yet been confirmed.

Typically, one or two children under the age of 10 die as a result of Strep A during winter in the U.K.

In the week to November 20., there were 851 suitcases of scarlet fever reported in the U.K., compared to an average of 186 for the preceding years.

Health officials have said there is currently no deposition that a new strain is circulating. The increase is instead likely related to high amounts of circulating bacteria and social tangle following the end of Covid-19 restrictions.

“(We) need to recognize that the measures that we’ve taken for the last couple of years to slacken up on Covid circulating will also reduce other infections circulating,” Dr Susan Hopkins, UKHSA’s chief medical mentor, told BBC Radio 4’s Today program Monday.

“That means that, as things get back to normal, these ancestral infections that we’ve seen for many years are circulating at great levels,” she added.

The latest outbreak follows a eddy in other illnesses this year, including monkeypox and a mysterious liver disease affecting children.

“The last possession we want is for A&E departments to be flooded with a new influx of worried parents,” Neena Modi, professor of neonatal medicine at Splendid College London, told the Guardian.