Six children have died so far from Strep A in Britain. Infections – which are usually harmless – are five times higher in the country among children than before the Covid hit, with relevant health authorities warning the death toll might worsen in the coming weeks.
On Friday, the United Kingdom announced that it had recorded 5 deaths within 7 days due to staphylococcal infection “A”, in children under the age of 10, which raised health concerns regarding the possibility of this type of disease mutating.
A girl died of bacteria
According to the UK Health Security Agency, this type of bacterial infection is capable of causing many diseases, some simple and others deadly.
The agency stated that the rate of infection with this infection in England this year among every 100,000 children between the ages of one and 4 years was in the range of 2.3 cases, while this figure was in the range of 0.5 during the period between 2017 and 2019.
For children between the ages of 5 and 9, it recorded 1.1 cases per 100,000 children, compared to 0.3 between 2017 and 2019.
Commenting on these figures, the UK’s Health and Human Services Authority said investigations are underway following reports of an increase in staph A infections in children’s lower respiratory tract over the past few weeks.
The authority added that there is no evidence to indicate the spread of a new strain of this bacteria, according to what was reported by the British “Sky News” network.
The agency said that recent data shows that cases of scarlet fever caused by the bacteria are still higher than we usually see at this time of year, with 851 cases reported last week, compared to 186 cases in previous years.
