Strep a and scarlet fever.

[BigMavis]

There's a whole heap of guilt placed on people seeking medical attention too. Nobody should feel like they have to apologise for being ill or feeling worried about their ill child. I really feel for the NHS though, overworked, underpaid, strikes imminent.

 

[candyland_]

Same old story with the NHS. You have to go back multiple times to be listened to and sadly it’s often too late. We hear of it all the time with cancer.

 

[GiggleBee]

So far school have sent a "how to spot symptoms" message out but not heard of any cases in school. They also sent attendance letters to any parents whos kids had more then 2 days off since september, so for some parents even if thier kids becomes ill i feel they would feel like they had to send them in.

I think the school attendance thing is awful. Surely theyve learnt from covid if you're sick your sick. Illnesses hit children harder than adults. I dont think we should be sending letters for 2 days!

(not having a go at you, I just think the whole school system is a joke!)

 

[honey&lemon]

I’m finding all of this so draining. We’ve spent the last nearly 3 years freaking out every time a child gets sick that it’s Covid. Now it’s strep A. The constant worrying about it is really starting to depress me. I want to just have normal parent worries, like have I got the teacher a Christmas present and is that stain chocolate or poo. I feel like parenting has just been so difficult lately and it’s a constant battle in your head if you’re doing the right thing. I find it hard to enjoy any of it because there’s always some massive world event or disease to worry about. Covid, cost of living, Russia, brexit, strep A. It never ends

I understand why people say close schools. But for us that’s another two weeks of no childcare. We both work difficult jobs that are impossible to do with children around and we already use all our annual leave for the school closures We have no help.

Schools are not ‘childcare’ I understand, but the morning club and after school we pay for are and without them one of us can’t work. We could never have planned for a pandemic and now Strep when we thought about having kids with no family help, because we planned for schools and paid childcare to be available like they have been all these years. If we start closing schools every time a virus or infection has an outbreak, it would end one of our careers for years and I’m sure many working parents would find the same.

 

[peachhes]

SF is going round my sons nursery, with two reported cases of Strep A there as well. Makes me not want to send him in!
He’s non verbal as well so it’s even harder for me to know if he’s unwell as he can’t tell me! Keeping all eyes on him for anything unusual as I’m a worrier

 

[Sibz]

I feel it's time we stop putting all our trust in doctors with the state of the NHS atm. If you ever find yourself in a&e with a very ill child and you're not convinced with being sent away, trust your instinct and don't leave a&e, refuse to leave until you get a second opinion. You may look an overprotective wally if you're wrong, but there's a chance you could lose your child if you're right

 

[Kim Mild]

It has been confirmed today that 8 children have died from strep a, in the UK since September.


I thought I'd start a thread as it keeps been mentioned on other threads.

 

[lastdis]

Metro said it’s now 15 kids . This is worrying. Half the reason I never got scared of covid is because kids seemed fine.

 

[jackieweaver’sauthority]

Honestly this is all so scary to me. This is the third week my daughter is ill and she finished a 5 day course of amoxicillin and eye drops yesterday as she had an ear infection, swollen tonsils and Conjunctivitis. She’s still not herself and back to weepy eyes, saying her ears and legs hurt and is so tired and upset. I took her to the gp this morning and he couldn’t have been less interested. Her tonsils are still swollen and her eyes were watery but he said she’s completely well. By this afternoon her eye that he didn’t even look in properly is constantly gunky she’s got a temp and is very tired. I called back and he’s now given her another course of antibiotic eye drops, but his advice for everything else is if she’s still unwell in a few weeks to bring her back in. When I spoke to the receptionist she said on the notes he told me to take her back in if she gets a sore throat which is not true.
Sorry for the rant but it’s just a horrible situation to be in.

 

[struggs123]

Is it media reporting or what the hell is going on here? Do children die from this most years?

Yes sadly every year there are a few deaths, this year it seems like the number is above usual so they are unsure if its a random blip or if there are other factors (likely). One theory is that because of lockdown children's immune systems are out of whack and also these type of illnesses are running more rampant than usual after being surpresseď when mixing was limited.

There are other reasons though imo, the main one being the state of the NHS and also the global supply chain following lockdowns etc (and for us exasperated by brexit). The NHS is beyond breaking point, it's tricky as of course parents should seek medical advice if they are concerned, but honestly the system cannot handle it- there needs to be restraint and an understanding of the symptoms and thresholds too. The fact is doctors and other HCPs are so thinly spread that the reality is that things are missed and thresholds for admission etc are higher; that said, now its known this a national trend there will be more caution applied. The shortage of antibiotics is in several countries not just ours, its only in some areas so you'd hope they would put something in place logistically but they won't.

I'd say keep an eye out and be mindful of symptoms, get checked if worried and although it's scary if caught early it's usually easily treatable.

To add: having worked in children's healthcare for too many years (albeit not anymore) there are lots of nasty things about every winter- RSV is another big one this year. There is lots of advice on the NHS website and some trusts have apps you can download to see what symptoms to look out for and where to get checked out.

 

[Kim Mild]

I’m finding all of this so draining. We’ve spent the last nearly 3 years freaking out every time a child gets sick that it’s Covid. Now it’s strep A. The constant worrying about it is really starting to depress me. I want to just have normal parent worries, like have I got the teacher a Christmas present and is that stain chocolate or poo. I feel like parenting has just been so difficult lately and it’s a constant battle in your head if you’re doing the right thing. I find it hard to enjoy any of it because there’s always some massive world event or disease to worry about. Covid, cost of living, Russia, brexit, strep A. It never ends

I understand why people say close schools. But for us that’s another two weeks of no childcare. We both work difficult jobs that are impossible to do with children around and we already use all our annual leave for the school closures We have no help.

Schools are not ‘childcare’ I understand, but the morning club and after school we pay for are and without them one of us can’t work. We could never have planned for a pandemic and now Strep when we thought about having kids with no family help, because we planned for schools and paid childcare to be available like they have been all these years. If we start closing schools every time a virus or infection has an outbreak, it would end one of our careers for years and I’m sure many working parents would find the same.

I don't think we can stop living our lives just because there is an illness doing the rounds. There were lockdowns for covid , and people still caught it .

There was a nasty virus going around this time in 2019, and people carried on living their life as normal . There were a lot of small children going to a and e , many with febrile convulsions ( my then toddler was one) , and many poorly adults.

I think the main difference was the media didn't get ahold of it.

 

[Kim Mild]

My child has recently had strep a and it started off like any other illness , with a temp and general malaise. ( and earache in our case, an ear infection was initially suspected) , then came the swollen glands and distinctive tongue.
During this time , mdeesy eldest and I have had a virus.
I do understand their caution as there are also about a million other illnesses a child could have. But there is a reliable test for strep a , so these should be utilised


I'm not sure if the invasive group a strep that has caused the deaths starts of the same as everyone else , then gets in the blood stream due to lack of treatment, or if it's invasive from the outset and that's just how it affects some people.

 

[Emmelina Ball]

Strep A tragedy: Stella-Lily sent home from hospital twice in days before her death as dad pays tribute to his ‘blue-eyed girl’

A five-year-old girl who died after falling ill with a Strep A infection was sent home from hospital twice in the days leading up to her tragic death.

www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk

This is absolutely tragic. This poor young girl was sent home from hospital twice - told it was a viral infection and to drink lucozade sport. How would you ever get over losing your only child

 

[Naataaliiee]

A couple of days before the first reported death for strep A, my little girl developed symptoms of scarlet fever after being in contact with another case (unknowingly). We couldn’t get a GP appointment so after trying and trying, we tried to take her to the walk in but it was a ridiculous 8 hour wait. We ended hp resorting to taking her to a pharmacy as she was miserable and quite poorly. They gave her a very quick check over, ignored our concerns and said it was viral and refused to diagnose scarlet fever even though she had every symptom listed! They said there was nothing to suggest except giving calpol. Luckily my little girl perked up after a few days but it’s so scary to think what could’ve been and possibly purely due to the fact we couldn’t get her seen anywhere!

 

[LittleMy]

I live abroad in turkey and have done for 4 years, next week my 3 year old and I are due to fly over for Christmas but this has gotten me so anxious, I've not seen my dad for 4 years and he's urging me to cancel (he does get over dramatic about everything) but is he right?? Should I cancel? I've not seen my family in so long and my son hasn't even met most of them this is the first year we've been able to go and now this. F***ing fed up and terrified

I wouldn’t cancel personally. It’s worrying when you read the news but we can’t stop living our lives out of fear of something that may not even affect us. Only you can make that decision ofc.

 

[GiggleBee]

Strep A tragedy: Stella-Lily sent home from hospital twice in days before her death as dad pays tribute to his ‘blue-eyed girl’

A five-year-old girl who died after falling ill with a Strep A infection was sent home from hospital twice in the days leading up to her tragic death.

www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk

This is absolutely tragic. This poor young girl was sent home from hospital twice - told it was a viral infection and to drink lucozade sport. How would you ever get over losing your only child

This should should be a wake up call to the government that they need to do more to help the NHS. Sadly we know it wont change anything.

RIP sweet girl.

 

[hol20x]

There's scarlet fever in my daughters school and I have major health anxiety around her so I've decided to keep her off til after Christmas and her teacher understands my concerns. She missed her first nativity but I just wouldn't feel comfortable having her taking part with 5 other classes of kids. Personally I think schools should just close now, it's only two weeks til the holidays anyway.

Had my daughter at the doctors yesterday and she gave her Amoxicillin cos her tonsils are red and swollen and the guidance is to treat any child with a sore throat. I had to go to about ten different pharmacies to find the antibiotics.

 

[sasbeep]

Is it something that babies can get vaccinated against? Please can someone help explain why it is coming back?

It has always been around, there are just better and worse years for it, the same as flu. 2017/18 was a bad period for SF but there wasn’t as much drama over it.
It can be serious but most of the time it isn’t.

 

[ScrambledEggs]

It’s so sad that 8 children have now died , But to have 851 cases compared to 186 over the years is hugely concerning. Why has is it risen so quickly when it was becoming a less common childhood illness.

 

[Ohflogoff]

I followed the covid thread closely during the early days (and later days actually). What others have said is 100% true. There are not enough nurses and doctors to take care of our poorly children. Covid didn’t seem as scary for the children, whereas this seems to target them.

all I can say is if you have doubts and you are being fobbed off by professionals, ask for a second/third/fourth opinion. Follow your instincts and push.