Strep A - are you worried?

[lucylollipop]

Apologies if there are already threads on this. I haven't seen any yet.

News in today that a 9th child has sadly died from strep a. I have primary school age dc and a young baby so I'm worried about them getting sick and also bringing bugs home to the rest of us.

I'm not clued up enough to know if this is comparable to flu deaths in kids? I suppose I just wondered if others are worried? Given the state on the NHS at the moment it isn't a great time to get unwell.

Yes I am shitting myself about it. My kids are 5 and 1. It's not the illness that's making me panic, it's the knowledge that if my children get sick there quite possibly aren't the resources there to get them seen and treated fast enough to help them.

I worry about how easy it would be to access medical care if needed for it considering how quickly it can become really bad. My now 6 year old had sepsis from IGAS as a newborn

I am worried too. I have a 2 year old that goes to nursery 4 days per week.

Nursery did share this link which calmed me down a bit as it made it clear that complications do happen but are rare:

www.gov.uk/government/news/ukhsa-update-on-scarlet-fever-and-invasive-group-a-strep?fbclid=IwAR02l-z1LrBMhW8PB5vID9piP2BrOLk518IAEzFVXlnJfyNZ-IE0s0h8Zt8

When I collected a prescription yesterday the pharmacist said there was plenty of drugs to go round, they just have run low in some areas. What scares me the most is how many times my Dr fobs me off.
I think the key is to be persistent if you are worried.

Yes, one of my daughter's class has been hospitalised with it. Very poorly.

I'm worried because a sore throat and temp is so easy to dismiss, especially at this time of year. I'm worried resources will be over stretched even more now that so many people are (understandably) concerned about this.

I think covid has left me more anxious about this sort of thing than I probably would have been before. But trying to keep a sense of perspective for now

100%. I've pulled my kids out of nursery as there are cases there. I'm very lucky to be in position to be able to do it.

@OnNaturesCourse did nursery alert parents that there have been cases? Is it strep or scarlet fever?

A little, mine are slightly older at 9 & 11 but it's still a concern.

Last I read (this morning) think 3 more children have died this year, than did last year so for that reason I’m not worried.

Am I worried that parents of primary school aged children will demand antibiotics because their kid has a sore throat, meaning my baby who gets an ear infection gets nothing? Yep. Some parents are losing their mind and it’s pathetic.

The worry should not be about the children getting ill itself - it is that children aren't being seen and treated fast enough or appropriately medically which is leading to the deaths. Strep A won't wait the NHS times is the bottom line

Terrified.

My dd very nearly died from it a few years ago. She was in hospital for almost 2 months. The thought of seeing her like that again and possibly losing her this time has my anxiety sky high.

Yes I'm worried. A child in ds class has it. Logically I know it's not usually overly serious, but it's still concerning.

So your baby who MIGHT get an ear infection trumps other kids with this potentially dangerous illness?

the advice atm given to GP’s near us is to prescribe antibiotics as soon as they can if they suspect it, even if it might not be strep. They don’t have time to take swabs and test etc.

I'm not worried. I have a 1 and a 3 year old. 1 year old is poorly at the moment but it's just one of those things. I'll deal with an infection if it comes to it, but our GP surgery is great to be fair and we don't have appointment issues

Dd has a sore throat, temperature and cough. I saw a nurse practitioner yesterday after I'd booked an appointment with the surgery. Dd has normal virus thankfully but I can understand why people are so concerned and need reassurance.

Advocate, advocate, advocate, take it to slightly hard arse if you need to. Them who shout loudest get most….terrible but it’s true.

GP within a couple of hrs, face to face, all my 4 previous practice groups have had emergency same day face to face apps kept back, normally have a seperate option on the phone line for it.. A&E if not.

Don’t accept testing then antibiotics. Antibiotics then stop if test indicates otherwise. These are cheap safe and especially in a hospital setting readily available drugs.

The rash with scarlet fever often presents on the tummy/side so is easy to miss. I had it in my 20’s and hadn’t spotted the rash.

So you want the primary school aged children not to get antibiotics for potentially fatal strep then in case your baby might get an ear infection?

No but my kids are older. If they were younger I would be more concerned. That said while these cases are awful I am cynical after Covid about the messaging coming out and that it’s somehow designed specifically to scare people into doing stuff like mixing less which will “save the NHS”, as they know the ship has sailed on scaring people about Covid

Hi @Covetthee i didn’t say MIGHT ffs read my post again. But essentially - supply is finite whilst demand is not. Ear / chest infections are easy to spot and GPs are OFTEN not wrong when diagnosing them. A child with a cough, likely to be viral, in winter isnt automatically going to have a deadly disease and there is a chance this child will be prioritised and given antibitoics as a precaution which I think is ridiculous. Pretty much the same amount of children have died this year than last. Parents shouldn’t be any more worried this year than they were last year.

I am worried if my son gets it because he has severe food and sensory issues and it's near on impossible to get him to take antibiotics... and if you get any in he gags and up it comes... so I'm not sure what I would do.

I think what we’ve seen here is a rise in the infections that can cause which has either caught health practitioners by surprise…..like with parents or possibly wilfully ignored by them, who knows, coupled with devastatingly (but I’m sure with the best intentions/resources available) acting too slowly by all caregivers/health professionals.

given where we are now neither should be the case going forwards.

Pathetic?

My dd was hours from death, the strep caused sepsis, her organs started shutting down, she had a drip in her head and an iv in her neck for antibiotics every few hours. She had to have an operation because she had empyema and pneumonia and could hardly breathe. I was pulled in and told she wouldn't make it through the operation.

Its not pathetic to worry about it at all. What a shitty thing to say.

It’s terrifying me. One child’s parents who very poorly in hospital said they just thought it was a sickness bug; 2 out of 3 of my DC currently have a sickness bug 🥺 I’m beside myself. I don’t know whether to speak to the GP or not but baby is only 1 so can’t tell me if they have a sore throat etc.. no rash yet.

oh for heavens sake. Let me make it clearer. I don’t think children who go to the doctor with a cough this winter should get antibiotics. Parents are losing their mind because their children have coughs. Put it this way: when there is panic, and a&e is full of frantic parents with their children who have coughs, it might mean if your child has banged their head, or your elderly parent has fallen down the stairs, they can’t get seen as quickly as they should.

I have health anxiety - so my responses to health issues are not always commensurate.

I'd say I'm moderately concerned - the difficulty, as others have mentioned, is that the first symptoms are so run-of-the-mill, so I am hyperaware of DD's temperature, and any signs of a sore throat.

I am reassured that my awareness of this and willingness to advocate for her, stands us in good stead. I'm also reassured that our GP has on-the-day appointments, and I usually get DD seen the same day when it's required.