Parents are advised to be vigilant and watch for symptoms including: pain when swallowing, fever, swollen tonsils with white spots, swollen neck glands, high temperature or rash.
An eighth grade student at a school in south-east London has died after contracting strep A, while another bereaved family revealed the symptoms his son experienced in his final days.
Colfe School wrote to parents on Thursday to inform them that a student had died after developing the infection.
Sky News learned that the student was in eighth grade and over 10 years old. The current UKHSA figures on deaths from strep A only represent cases in the under-10 age group, with six deaths reported as of Friday.
It occurs when families who have lost children to the disease warn others about symptoms to watch for.
Speaking to Sky News’ Sadiya Chowdhury, Muhammad Ibrahim Ali’s mother, Shabana Kousar, said her baby’s first sign of discomfort was a red rash on her lower back.
A full course of antibiotics seemed to help the four-year-old, but when her symptoms persisted two weeks later, they gave her Calpol.
Ibrahim’s condition worsened and he developed stomach pains.
Azra Ali, Ibrahim’s aunt, told Sky’s Sadiya Chowdhury that the government “needs to provide the correct guidance to local authorities. I’m worried that the public are still unaware of how serious this is as we’ve been told on the news that it’s very rare that children die from this strep A, but unfortunately they’re forgetting that we’ve had six deaths within the space of two weeks and I believe more are to come if the government don’t act quickly,” reports Sky.
Sky News has asked the Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West Integrated Care Boards for comment on the case.
The highly contagious bacterial infection is often relatively mild and causes scarlet fever, but it can be fatal if it enters the bloodstream and other parts of the body.
Parents are advised to be vigilant and watch for symptoms including: pain when swallowing, fever, swollen tonsils with white spots, swollen neck glands, high temperature or rash.
Dr Simon Clarke, a microbiologist at the University of Reading, said: “The only way of being sure that somebody has got Strep A infection is to take a swab from the back of their throat and culture it in a laboratory,” reports Sky.
He added that while “initial signals” are good indicators, “they are not proof and people should see their doctors”, reports Sky.
Hanna Roap, a seven-year-old Welsh girl, also died after contracting strep A.
Her father, Abul Roap, told The Telegraph that her daughter was prescribed steroids for a cough and she “never woke up”.
He said that Hanna “did not get the right medication” and said that if she had been given antibiotics “it could have been potentially a different story.”
Dean Burns’ daughter, Camila Rose Burns, has been fighting for her life on a ventilator at Liverpool’s Alder Hey Children’s Hospital since Monday after contracting the infection.
He told Sky News that he has been “living in an absolute nightmare” since his daughter was taken to hospital.
“She’s still nowhere near out of the woods, she’s really, really poorly,” he said, reports Sky.
Mr. Burns, who lives in Bolton with her family, said there was a virus at Camila’s school, so they kept an eye on her over the weekend.
He explained that she had been complaining of chest pain.
After a visit to the hospital on Saturday, where doctors prescribed an inhaler and told her she could go home, her health deteriorated on Sunday and she was rushed to the emergency room.
Although strep A can be a serious disease, if treated promptly with antibiotics, it poses less of a threat.
According to the UK Health Security Agency, there were 851 cases in the week to November 20, compared to an average of 186 in the same week in previous years.
He advises those who become ill to exclude themselves from kindergarten, school, or work for at least 24 hours after starting antibiotic therapy.
The UKHSA said the increase in cases was likely the result of the withdrawal of measures put in place during the COVID pandemic.
Dr Clarke added: “It strikes me that as we are seeing with flu at the moment, lack of mixing in kids may have caused a drop in population-wide immunity that could increase transmission, particularly in school age children,” reports Sky.
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