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.

It does. I linked to one of the reasons why further up.

I've seen this too. Wondered how long it would take for the conspiracy theorists to come out.

That’s not true (unfortunately). There is nothing to suggest breastfeeding is protective against strep A. Even if it was it relies on the mother having had contact with that infection herself, which in most cases they won’t be sure about.

We need to stop assuming breastfeeding = immunity, I saw one post on here by a poster who didn’t get her child vaccinated against measles ‘because I had it as a child and am breastfeeding therefore the baby will be immune’. Another poster pointed out that those benefits have tailed off after 3 months even if you feed past this point, the first poster flounced off the thread…

I've also seen a Facebook post (nobody I know, came up in a search) full of "Our fears were justified Sandra!" "Oh yes Kate, those other parents aren't Awake like we are, they're just sheep." They are absolutely batshit.

Have you seen the studies that show that the nasal spray and influenza can enhance a strep pyogenes infection?
It would be a bit simplistic to say they're responsible for the deaths, but there is a study out there that came to an interesting conclusion.

That's really, really mean of you.

They don’t give antibiotics for ear infections anyway do they? Or rarely.

AIBU to wish my parents would just split up?!

This is the first time iv ever posted on here so apologies if this is maybe on the wrong thread.

My DM and DSD have been together since I was 4 and I'm now 34. My DSD was diagnosed with progressive MS when I was 16 and pretty much since then my mums life has revolved around his illness. Over the years as his condition has worsened, my mum has gone from his partner to his full time carer. They no longer have a loving caring relationship (haven't for a long time!) Even though there are aspects of his condition which are out of his control and this has also undoubtedly taken a toll on his mental health, he has also caused my mum a lot of unnecessary stress physically and mentally because he also decided from the word go that if he's ill then he may as well not bother participating in life anymore. He's been given so many physio exercises to do over the years all of which he's never bothered with meaning that he is a lot worse off now physically than he would of potentially been if he had done the exercises and made the effort. He literally does nothing around the house so my mum has to do it all. He can no longer go to the toilet without needing various equipment to help him which means my mum still has to physically help him and even sometimes lift him if he falls and noone else is immediately round to help her. She's got so many injuries herself and is no longer in a position to be able to deal with caring him full time. She has no social life because she can't leave him on his own for more than 2 hours in case something happens. He quite openly makes it obvious he's not interested in doing things to help make her life easier I.e things like getting their van adapted for him to be able to drive so she doesn't always have too. I really try to help where I can either physically or just as someone she can rant too when she's stressed out but it hurts me to see her carry on in such a toxic situation. She's mentioned lately about him needing to go in a home because she can't cope but she doesn't think he will agree to it. They have carers over twice a day only to get him out of bed and put him back in bed (a total of 15 mins a day) because they earn too much on paper to qualify for more care. On top of all of this she has a narcissist for a mother who couldn't care less about her situation but she won't cut her out of her life even though I want too. For me I just miss my mum a lot and wish I could have a proper relationship with her as iv missed out on so much quality time growing up because all of her energy goes into my DSD or her mum. Not to mention I now have a newborn baby who I really want her to have a good relationship with.

AIBU to just think they should split up if they there's no longer any relationship so my mum can have an actual life again?

promise I'm not flouncing @Cuppasoupmonster , that's interesting to know about immunity. I knew it only lasted for so long but didn't know that Strep wouldn't be included.

I don't know.

My kids are primary school aged but not too young.

My youngest has had Scarlet Fever on more than one occasion. He wasn't particularly ill either time but it did linger and 2nd time had to get a 2nd line antibiotic.

He had a bad case of tonsillitis a year ago (thankfully it's rare for him to get it)so I hope that has helped his immune system. But he was really pretty poorly and j spent all day trying to get him antibiotics. It was the sickest he's been.

Wow I did not realise iv just put my post as a comment on this thread 😳 please ignore everyone! I can't seem to delete it either!

Try and step away from the news reports x

I’m generally not very anxious when it comes to health - my kids are generally healthy, don’t get more than the odd sniffle, have had normal childhood illnesses like chickenpox. I wasn’t particularly worried about covid, but this does have me more concerned than I normally would be. Mainly because the symptoms can be passed off as so many other general childhood illnesses, I’m worried that it’s not being spotted early enough resulting in every parent’s worst nightmare 😳

Yes, it is scary in the way outbreaks of Meningitis B are. It just seems to take over so quickly and be a race against time. Rashes and sore throats are so incredibly common anyway. Just feel like schools have got back to normal too - I think we'll see a lot of nativities, concerts, fairs and parties cancelled in the next two weeks, which is unfortunate, but lots of kids mixing in closed spaces isn't advisable, that's why norovirus spreads like wildfire just before Christmas, I suppose.

So this study (attached) suggests that as strep pyogenes is under researched, flumist could be used (presumably so they have more incidences to research) as more children developed it in the flumist group when than in the control group. It was a moderate increase but nevertheless enough that the researchers could see a use for flumist in this way.

There are also articles talking about the relationship of 'flu and strep outcomes.

There is also information talking about how carvacrol shows bactericidal activity against this bacteria. This is present in many herbs such as thyme, oregano and possibly sage.
www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-79713-0

It's been a long day. - It could be used to study the interaction between s. Pyogenes and flu.

I'm not worried with my own kids, they had it last year and GP treated successfully with abx, if they became symptomatic again this year we'd do the same. There are child deaths through infection every year and rates do vary year in year regards flu, meningitis like infections, and those that progress to sepsis. This year is no different.

As others have said the number of deaths has only increased marginally this year. Whilst more awareness is good, the hysteria is not and large numbers of people calling 111 or demanding abx from their GP for a simple cough (not even a typical symptom for a strep infection) in an otherwise well child is not helpful.

For some context there are on average 5 deaths every single day in the UK due to road traffic accidents, yet there's no hysteria about going on a car journey or crossing a road!!!

@SleepyRich this is what worries me most too. I think there will be a shortage of antibiotics and no one in my area can get a doctors appointment or get a call back from 111 because so many parents are now panicking. The media are causing mass panic and it isn’t going to help at all.

I'm terrified. My eldest died of sudi with underlying common cold infections which had stopped his lungs functioning. I have a baby and a 3 year old and never want them to leave the house again.

My DD (adult and a teacher) saw a GP yesterday as had a swollen throat that was making swallowing difficult, he looked in her throat and could tell it was bacterial because of the white spots, prescribed her antibiotics and told her to isolate for 48 hours, the swab test came back positive for Strep today, so having white spots in your throat is one of the signs its bacterial and not viral. My DD is still unwell, aches all over, high temperature and D&V but managed to eat today a little today so on the road to recovery. I hope all those with sick DC or family members a speedy recovery

Strep A doesn’t cause a cough does it?

Yes. Scarlet fever in a nursery I do a lot of work at and am immune suppressed.
Lots of kids unwell so anxiety is high among the parents. We have seen a big drop this week in attendance at nursery.

My DD had a cough but was more connected to clearing her swollen throat and when she was sick

Absolutely, it's terrifying that with antibiotic resistance in a decade or 2 we may well have little in the way of treatment for these infectiobs at all!

I have a friend whose research area is Phages. I am optimistic we will have these as antibiotic alternatives. But yes I agree it is a worry nonetheless.