Strep A infection

[Sallydimebar]

Just heard on radio how 4 children have now died of this within the month . Advise is to seek urgent medical care if worried .

How worried should we be about this infection? And am I being unreasonable in thinking it’s so hard at hospitals to seek urgent care . The poor 5 yr old who was sent away with tonsil infection as no bed was available died .

Are antibiotics working?

There's lots of talk of lockdown for two years re: kids mixing. Where is this coming from?Even if someone had kids that weren't eligible for a place during the first lockdown or weren't in one of the years that went back in June 2020, preschools and nurseries were open in 2021 lockdown and schools haven't been closed since 2021 lockdown. The biggest change since schools were closed is the sheer volume of kids that caught covid.

Thanks to the poster who mentioned strep tests. I'll get some in.

It's arythramycin or one of the other mycins.
My son is also allergic but cannot have any mycins either due to his organ transplant....
He never had anaphylaxis, just a rash as a baby but he's never been allowed it since.

Not sure how you got that from my post @Untitledsquatboulder

Due to lack of immunity we are seeing more cases of scarlet fever and other infections that are leading to complications in greater numbers.

I don’t really know what you mean. Of course Strep A has been around pre-Covid. I don’t want any child to die. We’re just seeing infections in greater numbers at the moment.

What a bizarre post.

Children/immunity

For those that asked. A worry that this also may have an impact on asthma, allergies and autoimmune diseases in the future.

Diphtheria is bacterial; there’s been a vaccine since the 1940s.

Less children than normal died of strep a complications in winter 2020/21 (because of lock down) @Delatron and you apparently think that's a bad thing. I would have said it was one of the very few benefits.

If more children had been exposed then, some would have died then, that's how it works.

I'm really anxious about it.
Feels like the early days of covid again, worrying whether my child is going to catch some horrible illness.
I'm not sure if my level of anxiety is normal

You could at least spell diphtheria correctly.

Be wary of the testing kits.
I am a GP and when the instant tests first appeared I double swabbed everyone with a sore throat… sent one to lab as per normal and instant test for the other.
The instant tests where woefully inadequate.. in fact the ministry health stopped funding them.
Nothing can replace a good assessment with a clinician. Unfortunately the state of the health system means this cannot always happen.
The poor boy who died.. it’s just woeful. There will be an inquest focusing on the actions of the doctor and the woeful woeful state of the health system will not come into it.

There's been an issue with the availability of Amoxicillin suspension (the liquid) for at least three months. No issue at all with availability of capsules or injected versions that I've come across.

I feel the same, and I think to a certain extent it is normal. No other people except the ones on earth right now have lived through the Covid-19 pandemic except us, and we're the only ones who know what it's like. We're always going to be more anxious and vigilant I believe.

@berksandbeyond I feel the same!
I'm so worried about sending my DC to school! I was so anxious at the beginning of covid,and I feel very similar to that today!

We had a letter home from my child's school to say they had 2 cases of scarlet fever. 1 of the girls is in my daughters class and they play together. I'm watching her like a hawk 😓

I feel like this is a cloud over the Christmas period.

It goes without saying my thoughts are very much with the families of the poor children who have died. So tragic

I had scarlet fever in the early 70s, at a time when it was quite unusual. An entire team of med students and doctors, bar one, missed it and the fact I was ill (I was being tested for something else) Hopefully as this is so publicised at the moment medics will be very alert to the signs, as will parents.

I'm thinking about not sending my DD to nursery / softplay / playgroups / crèche until after Christmas.

She's been unwell the last couple of weeks and I took her to docs yesterday, big tonsils/ slightly pink ears etc- but looks viral, no fever. Hope they were right 🙏

I have a baby at home too. He's been sick as well. Cannot risk this. Absolutely terrified. Too much ?

www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-11491871/Chris-Whitty-warns-Britain-faces-prolonged-period-excess-deaths.html

The expert on the radio 4 report this evening said that it can be spread at school if people don't cover their mouths when coughing etc. Most small children couldn't do that properly every time. I was chatting to my friend who said she wouldn't keep her child off school with a cold, and this infection presents as a sore throat.
Not sure what to do apart from not take my DS if someone else has a cold :-/

I think it’s terrifying. My 3 year old had a chest infection was she was 1 and was in intensive care and had recurrent chest infections previously. The consultant blamed lockdown on it then and this was May 2021.
I'm worried that my daughter is susceptible to respiratory infections.
what do t do?! Keep her indoors all winter, that’s what I was advised to do last year.

Not to mention TB but yeah, we will just keep pretending.

My DS had croup last winter when 6 and the GP said following lockdown more children were getting poorly from illnesses that typically affect fewer or younger children.

Just seen on sky news a 4 year old very poorly with it currently on ventilator. As experts warn toll will be worse in coming weeks .

Ive just never seen anything like this before is it a stronger strain .

I’m sure lockdowns will have affected children’s immune systems by exposing them to fewer viruses and bacteria, but I can’t help noticing that it’s almost always the children who got a reasonably bad case of confirmed covid in the last couple of years who immediately afterwards got chickenpox and/or then bacterial throat infections, scarlet fever, ear infections, appendicitis-like symptoms, or occasionally, chest infections, so it must now also be exposure to too many viruses circulating all at the same time putting a strain on the immune system. Chickenpox no longer seems to be a largely seasonal thing, we seem to get clusters of it in school now that always coincide with a cluster of virus cases that involve vomiting, headaches, coughs, non-specific rashes, sore throats and high temperatures. Has anyone else noticed this? It must be miserable for the kids to go straight from one virus into another one without a break in between. And more children getting chickenpox in school presumably also because fewer children caught it when they were younger?

Just returned from A&E with my son (3). Last week he had rosy cheeks, a snotty nose, and cough. He got better really quickly. This week he’s had a raging temperature, no appetite, and generally fluish. He seemed a lot better today then his temperature spiked this evening and he was screaming that he had a sore throat and ears, etc. Couldn’t get a Doctor appointment as there was only one GP who wasn’t seeing anymore patients… they redirected me to out-of-hours.

He’s been prescribed antibiotics for an ear infection but they said it’s mostly viral - the antibiotics are precautionary. So many poorly kids in there too. :(

I can’t help noticing that it’s almost always the children who got a reasonably bad case of confirmed covid in the last couple of years who immediately afterwards got chickenpox and/or then bacterial throat infections, scarlet fever, ear infections, appendicitis-like symptoms, or occasionally, chest infections, so it must now also be exposure to too many viruses circulating all at the same time putting a strain on the immune system.

I think that can happen after any infection though, I don't think it's confined to Covid.

I was born in the 1950s, and after a bad cold as a toddler, I got measles and scarlet fever, and numerous ear infections and bouts of tonsillitis for a couple of years. It stopped when I started school, and I was perfectly well (apart from German measles) until I was 12, when I got mumps followed by recurrent tonsillitis again until they took them out a couple of years later.

I got chicken pox when I was 36, and that, too, was followed by repeated throat and chest infections for a couple of years.

I'm pretty scared.

I know it's a ridiculously tiny proportion of children who will get this, and an even smaller amount who will die from this, but hearing of 6 children dying in the last month is sobering.

My heart goes out to those families who have lost a child.

I will be keeping a close eye on the news the next few days.