A five-year-old girl has died in Northern Ireland with a reported Strep A infection.
The young girl became unwell last week and was take to Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children. She passed away on Monday night, the BBC reports.
The schoolgirl attended Black Mountain Primary School in Belfast. Parents at the school received a letter last week saying one student had been diagnosed with a severe form of Strep A.
Read more: Strep A symptoms warning from Irish doctor as deadly infection spreads
As cases of the infection are rising across Ireland, an Irish doctor has warned parents to look out for specific symptoms. Eight other children have died from Strep A in Britain since September
The UK Health Security Agency issued a rare alert last week due to the rise in cases of the infection amongst children. Dr Scott Walkin from the Irish College of GPs has said that while the illness usually causes little more than a sore throat, parents should be vigilant if their child presents with additional signs of the disease.
Parents should watch out for the following:
- Persistent fever that doesn’t respond to paracetamol
- Drowsiness
- Floppiness of the limbs
- Reluctance to drink
- Inability to pass urine
If a child presents with any of these symptoms, parents should bring them to a doctor.
Dr Walkin told RTE’ s Morning Ireland: “10 to 15 percent of people will have it in the back of their noses and throats. It doesn’t necessarily cause any problems but if it gets into the wrong place in the body, it can be very troublesome.”
He added: “Sometimes it can spread elsewhere and it can cause pneumonia or sepsis, if it spreads to the lungs or blood stream. It’s a terrible illness for the individual it does affect like that.”
Strep A is not a virus, however it is highly contagious and can be transmitted in similar ways to illnesses such as Covid-19 and flu. Strep spreads through airborne droplets after people sneeze, cough or share food with one another.
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