A child under five is feared to have died of Strep A in Ireland.
The country's Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is investigating whether the unnamed child died from the deadly bacterial infection.
It would be Ireland's first-known child fatality from the disease, which has already killed at least nine children across the UK.
The child died in the Public Health Group 'Area A’, which encompasses the northeast of Ireland and north Dublin.
Among the victims is a girl from Belfast, Northern Ireland, who died on Monday after being admitted to hospital with a reported Strep A infection.
The remainder of the suspected deaths involved kids in England and Wales, the Irish Mirror reports.
Now the Director for National Health Protection with the HSE and HPSC say Strep A is being “actively investigated” as a potential cause of death of a child in Ireland.
It comes as reports emerge of the NHS in “meltdown” as panicking parents swamp the struggling service with Strep A fears.
Sick children have been waiting up to 10 hours on hospital floors to be seen in crowded emergency departments.
Meanwhile, a 92-year-old woman spent 30 hours waiting on a hospital corridor due to a lack of beds.
Hospitals, doctors surgeries and ambulances, across the UK are all being swamped by terrified families while 111 is also under pressure.
One hard-hit hospital is now urging parents to “stay calm” and not to bring their child into A & E unless it’s “absolutely necessary”.
Mums described hospitals in Gwent and Peterborough as like a “war-scene” with dozens of children lying on floors.
Amid this chaos, thousands of exhausted ambulance workers and NHS staff are due to strike on December 21st in a dispute over pay.
Now on top of the normal winter pressures the NHS are having to deal with stressed families worried after the eighth child died of a Strep A infection.
The Grange University Hospital, a trauma centre in Gwent, confirmed they saw 90 children on Monday evening and had up to ten hour waits.
One mum who was there, wrote on Facebook : “I cannot believe how many children were led on floors and the line of people waiting to be seen. It was like a war scene. There must have been at least fifty children on the floors…”
Consultant in Adult and Paediatric Emergency Medicine at The Grange University Hospital, Dr Rob Stafford, said: “We know there are a lot of parents and carers who are anxious about Strep A at the moment, but I would urge people to stay calm."
