Our thoughts are with the families affected
Health experts have moved to reassure parents after a sixth child died of Strep A in the UK. Over the last week, the bacterial infection has claimed the lives of Muhammad Ibrahim Ali, four, from High Wycombe, Hanna Reap, seven, from Penarth, Wales, a six-year-old from Ashford in Surrey and a primary-school aged child from north Ealing, London.
"However, children can on occasion develop a bacterial infection on top of a virus and that can make them more unwell." According to the NHS, Group A Streptococcus is the name given to a type of bacteria sometimes found in the throat or on the skin. Dr Colin Brown, deputy director at the UKHSA, said: "We are seeing a higher number of cases of Group A strep this year than usual. The bacteria usually causes a mild infection producing sore throats or scarlet fever that can be easily treated with antibiotics.
"But sometimes it causes disease which can range from mild cases of sore throat to more serious illnesses like scarlet fever and in rare incidences necrotising fasciitis, otherwise known as 'flesh eating disease'. It's important to remember that infections like this never occur at a constant rate, you get peaks and troughs in numbers and from that we work out an average.
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