Six children have so far died of 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 could worsen in the coming weeks.
The UK announced on Friday that it had recorded 5 deaths in 7 days from staph ‘A’ infection, in children under the age of 10, which raised health concerns about 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 some deadly.
The agency said the rate of infection with this infection in England this year among every 100,000 children aged one to 4 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 aged 5 to 9, it recorded 1.1 cases per 100,000 children, up from 0.3 between 2017 and 2019.
Commenting on these figures, the UK’s Health and Human Services Authority said investigations were ongoing following reports of an increase in Staph A infections in the lower respiratory tract of children in recent weeks.
The authority added that there is no evidence to indicate the spread of a new strain of this bacterium, as reported by the British network “Sky News”.
The agency said recent data shows that cases of scarlet fever caused by the bacteria are even higher than we usually see this time of year, with 851 cases reported last week, up from 186 cases in previous years.
