2023-08-22 19:11:58
More and more serious cases of group A streptococcal disease are listed in Quebec.
• Read also: Five things to know regarding group A strep
• Read also: Serious streptococcal A infection: “my daughter had to be intubated, I was afraid of losing her”
• Read also: Group A Streptococcus: Here are the symptoms to watch out for
Indeed, some 45 Quebecers have died of this infection since the beginning of the year, while 728 cases have been identified in the province, that is to say four times more than last year.
It is “difficult to avoid contracting it, since the majority of the population is already colonized by it and sometimes even without knowing it”, affirms Dr. Cécile Tremblay, microbiologist and infectiologist at the CHUM.
All you have to do is pick a splinter in your thumb to be infected, at least that’s what happened to La Presse columnist Maxime Bergeron.
According to Dr. Tremblay, “it’s an infection that can remain trivial, which can cause a small skin infection or a sore throat, but some of these bacteria carry toxins that cause tissue destruction fairly quickly and can even cause death”.
The signs and symptoms are sometimes barely noticeable, says Dr. Tremblay.
“Often, it shows up with almost nothing, just much more pain than what is seen in the skin,” she says.
The specialist recommends going to the hospital when disproportionate or abnormal symptoms appear.
“As soon as there is a fever, we have to ask ourselves questions,” says the microbiologist and infectiologist, since it is not predominant at the start.
Close attention should also be paid to how quickly the skin redness and pain progresses.
“Often, it comes cyclically and this year we’ve seen a lot of it,” says Dr. Tremblay.
“It’s the same bacteria that caused scarlet fever,” she adds.
It is toxins present in the bacteria that are responsible for the complications associated with streptococcus.
Group A strep that can lead to flesh-eating bacteria is the same one children can get, ‘but it doesn’t necessarily have the toxins [qui rendent la bactérie plus virulente]».
The microbiologist and infectiologist stipulates that all streptococcal infections must be treated in order to avoid complications transforming this disease into “serious invasive infections. These are bacteria that carry toxins.
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