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?

@70billionthnamechange yeah it is. But some cases lead to scarlet fever and igas. There's been a 5x increase in scarlet fever so either this strain of strep A is much worse or there is an absolute shit tonne of it about.

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This infuriates me. Why did they not do a test ? I took my DD to a and e recently. I was surprised they actually tested her for covid/ flu and RSV. I think all kids should get tested for strep now. How else would you know it's definitely not strep but viral ? I did take DD to the doctor two days ago and she ruled out that it was strep, based on her symptoms - she didn't have a high fever for example- however, in the cases I'm reading about, these kids initially seemed fine too. Just a bit under the weather and then all of a sudden they deteriorate and it's too late. Test all kids with symptoms. Or give everyone with symptoms a round of antibiotics.

Exactly this.

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/12/02/strep-death-antibiotics-could-have-saved-child-says-father-seven/

The little girl in Wales was sent home from
the GP with steroids. No antibiotics. No test done. It’s awful to think it may have been preventable with adequate medical care.

Same. Whenever we took DC to paediatrician or ourselves to the primary care doc with a sore throat we were swabbed in house and had a result almost straight away. It actually saved using unnecessary antibiotics.
I was also swabbed pre birth for strep. But that's another story..

I'm freaking out. My DD also sent home from GP on Thursday. She was slightly under the weather and had swollen tonsils and pink ears. She seems absolutely fine now, but I'm worried it's going to come on, all of a sudden.

Most communicable diseases are “shooting up”, or rather, going back to pre-pandemic levels.

Because Covid measures didn’t keep just Covid at bay. Norovirus is another one.

ABs aren’t required for everything and without a swab and culture, handing out ABs like sweets is massively contributing to resistance.

This is what worries me. I go back to my own experience - no symptoms to being septic within 6 hours. I did feel horrific at one point and would have sought help if I had been at home but then I just wanted to sleep - apparently this is not a good sign.
It's not easy to get any medical attention within 6 hours now. Sepsis is often missed at the start.

Whether or not it's connected to covid, it has to be connected to the state of medical care here at the minute.

We had a letter from the Local authority sent home from school yesterday that said the local children's hospital A&E is too busy and basically not to send your kids there. If they do need A&E you may need to go elsewhere to get help. Bear in mind this is one of the largest children's hospitals in the country.

A friend of mine took her D's to that A&E on the advice of the gp. She got there at 4pm and didn't see a doctor until 5am. There was one doctor on A&E shift. He needed to be admitted for iv antibiotics but there were no beds available. Not just in our city (which has other hospitals with pediatric wards) but within a hundred miles. And even if a bed became available in another hospital, there were no ambulances available to take him. So he had the IV in a corridor.

This is what's frightening. Normally a strep A infection would be treated pretty fast (even if there was some dithering about it being viral) but if your child is really poorly and goes to A&E, they are just not being seen fast enough. Plus the small amount of drs on shift must make it more likely things are missed. How does a Dr prioritise a list of patients to be seen if there are 30 kids with similar presentations and poorliness? It takes time to get round them all, even if you just say, went by time of arrival.

I can't believe how passive were being as a nation about this. It's like we're all resigned to it, too knackered from working like dogs to pay a massive gas bill, to make the noise needed.

This. I'm terrified of this.

DC currently has symptoms (not of Strp) which are not an emergency but advised to see a doctor about. I rang GP who said they have no appointments and ring 111. Rang 111 who said ring pharmacy. Rang pharmacy who said they can't do anything as dc is under two and ring GP! And in any case were telling me that DC's symptoms were caused by something clearly impossible.

Rang GP again who said I could have an appointment in two weeks' time, and even that's just a phone call! They won't be able to diagnose anything from that! Dread to think what would happen if it was something more urgent. I used to judge people for going to A&E instead of the GP but now I can see why people do! My recent experience with the NHS is terrible.

Just to counter some of the worrying GP story’s. My family has been ill in the last week.

I had a terrible throat, I called the GP at 8am, had an appointment arranged for later that day. GP determined that antibiotics were necessary and had the prescription sent straight to the pharmacy which DH collected for me later that day.

A few days later there was white stuff in DSs mouth, again I called the gp at 8, got appointment later that day and again prescribed something that we picked up later that day.

I know the NHS is on its knees but to put people minds at ease a bit, we have been able to access GP services and the medical prescribed when required.

My grandson has had a sore throat, headache, fever and a really bad cough all week, he’s also got two big spots on his face which are getting bigger, he was getting worse and after reading the news about strep throat, his mum got him an OOH appointment last night, the doctor took her fears seriously and swabbed his throat and prescribed antibiotics. In the doctors words, his chest is clear but the antibiotics will sort everything else out, including the spots. She didn’t say it was Strep throat or not.

@FuckMyLife2022 the lockdown did not lead to this, immunity debt is not a thing, the media isn't getting immunologists on the news. Sweden never locked down schools and has a pediatric care crisis too with massive RSV.

COVID on the other hand destroys your immune system, at least for 8 months afterwards based on existing studies. Catch COVID multiple times and your immune system is doubly/triply/etc affected.

twitter.com/drpjhughes/status/1598972808205193216?t=8i2fCx3AXf8uXiEbieUxGw&s=19

@Daffodilsandtuplips I know some GPs send swaps off . Did this with friends daughter a few months back , gave the antibiotics and rang later in the week to confirm Tonsillitis.

Hope he feels better soon .

Agree. My DD had, a 9 hour wait in A&E then ruptured appendix. A&E were completely overwhelmed, it seemed they had lost control. Very scary and I feel it definitely put her life at risk.

So what’s changed? My kids are older teens so most of my A&E experience was 14-18 years ago. Everything seemed to be running fine then.

I know schools are now struggling under limited funds.

What’s happened with the NHS? What’s changed?

People can't GP appointments so use A&E or walk in centres. I suspect it was 10 years ago to get an appointment.

What has changed is years of underfunding (and very low pay rises) has meant it is very understaffed. It is a vicious circle as when people leave it gets worse for everyone else and they are then more likely to leave.

No we should blame it on Covid lockdowns. It prevented children from building up immunity to the over 200 infections they will get over their lifetime.

@WhirlyTwirly

• 12 years of underfunding, spending decreasing in real terms.
• Significant reduction in number of beds
• Brexit leading to massive exodus of European Docs and nurses
• Failure by govt to address social care crisis - many patients well enough to go home but no care in place
• Removal of nurses bursary scheme
• Aging population
• Covid - increase in critical patients, 2 million with long covid
• 7 million on hosp waiting lists getting sicker - est 20% GP time managing these patients

Excess deaths are currently higher than 2 years ago. Ambulances can't discharge patients. Est 200+ die a week due to crisis in NHS eg heart attacks ambulances not getting to people fast enough.

www.spectator.co.uk/article/why-are-excess-deaths-higher-now-than-during-covid/

@sst1234 no, we should blame it on COVID. Not lockdowns. Not getting sick (during lockdown) is good for you. Getting COVID n times is bad for your immunity. Hence the severity of other infections when children get them, whether it's other respiratory viruses (RSV etc), bacterials (Strep A) or fungal.

Have a look at this: twitter.com/1goodtern/status/1598962260369559552

You don't "build up immunity" to strep A. You only get it if you catch it. If children had caught it in 2020 or 2021 they could have died from it then too and if they didn''t die they could catch it again in 2022 anyway as people often keep getting it -immunity to it is only short term. Are you saying that would have been better?

Covid specifically depletes dendritic cells needed to fight RSv, and chronically infects tonsils and immune cells that fight Strep A.

People will eventually realise the extent of the gamble that's been taken by policy makers. This is not and never will be a flu. It is a vascular disease that causes immune dysfunction and impacts our ability to deal with other pathogens.

The official advice from the WHO is to avoid Covid because the evidence is mounting of the harm it causes:

Thanks @Sunshineguy and @ThaiDye Knowing 4 who have died from covid and 3 with long covid (teen and two middle-aged) it's helpful to understand the biology better. I am concerned about the long term impacts of covid infections but most people are totally unaware and/or have had enough of covid and have their heads in the sand imho.

Really worrying
How could it be handled differently though, if covid is going to be here forever? Would you just hope that we eventually get a vaccine for ALL strains?