Love Island star Chloe Crowhurst
(Picture: Instagram)Chloe Crowhurst has shared her concern after revealing that her eight-month-old daughter Aria has Strep A.
The youngster’s diagnosis comes as figures released on Thursday revealed at least 19 children have now died across the UK from invasive Strep A disease.
Former Love Island star Crowhurst, who appeared on the third series of the ITV2 hit dating show, shared Aria’s symptoms in an Instagram post on Friday to help other parents identify them, assuring her followers that while she had been “worried”, her daughter is “fine.”
Alongside a picture of her daughter in the bath, Crowhurst wrote: “My baby girl has the dreaded Strep A.
“I honestly have the symptoms saved in my phone and have read lots of info on this because I was so worried like most mummies are.
“I feel like the symptoms vary so much in each individual, so I’m going to share Aria’s with you. They are not just the textbook symptoms!
“I honestly went to the doctor because her face looks so bad, didn’t expect it to be Strep.
“It breaks my heart but she’s doing just fine, but we know our babies better than anyone. Always get them checked if you’re worried!’
She said poor Chloe had “sores on her chin that were open and have now become infected: rash all over her body some: blistery and dry rash on her tummy: spots all over her throat, which I didn’t see until the doctor: checked was completely not herself just clingy.”
Adding that the tot had been “randomly crying she also wouldn’t sleep at night.”
Strep A bacteria can cause a range of other infections, including impetigo, scarlet fever and strep throat.
While the vast majority of infections are relatively mild, sometimes the bacteria can, in exceptionally rare cases, cause invasive Group A Streptococcal (iGAS) disease.
Two of the most severe, but rare, forms of this invasive disease are necrotising fasciitis and streptococcal toxic shock syndrome.
Government figures show iGAS cases are currently four times higher than normal among children aged between one and four in Britain.
It is understood that health officials do not believe the number of infections has yet peaked, suggesting more deaths are likely.
There have been 7,750 cases of scarlet fever from September 12 to December 11.
This compares to a total of 2,538 at the same point in the year during the last comparably high season in 2017 to 2018.
