This Morning host Holly Willoughby shared the ‘fear’ at her childrens’ school amid reports of fatal cases of Strep A among children in the UK.
It comes after a five-year-old girl died from an illness linked to the bacterial infection, with eight children now having died due to complications from Strep A since September in the UK.
Holly said she had visited the school of her children on Monday and among the parents it was ‘all anybody could talk about’, as she added: “There’s a lot of fear and worry about this.”
This Morning GP Dr Nighat appeared on the programme on Tuesday morning to share the symptoms parents should look out for, noting that most Strep A infections are mild.
However, she went on to say that the bacteria infection can ‘break the borders’ and enter the bloodstream, leading to complications.
She said: “That goes into the bloodstream and can affect all sorts of things – our liver, your heart, kidneys, your joints.
“In rarer cases people can get long-term complications. It’s knowing to pick up the symptoms early because it is treatable.”
Some affected will just develop scarlet fever, which very rarely then develops into the potentially deadly infection.
Dr Nighat noted the scarlet fever symptoms to look out for, telling ITV viewers: “The symptoms are a high fever – temperature about 38 or 40 degrees – sore throat, red cheeks, a rash on the skin that looks like a red prickly rash but also feels sandpapery.
“Here’s the significant thing, in Black and Asian skin, the rash doesn’t actually look red. It looks flesh-coloured but you’re feeling for the sandpaper.”
A Strep A infection becomes dangerous when a child suddenly deteriorates, however if the symptoms are recognised it can be easily treated with an antibiotic such as Penicillin.
Chairman of the GP committee of the British Medical Association Dr Alan Stout said the number of deaths among children was unusual.
"The last proper outbreak was four or five years ago, there were maybe four deaths associated with that - not even direct effect, but associated with the infection," he said. "So to get to eight or nine now [across the UK] is slightly unusual."
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) confirmed last week that five children under the age of five have died in England after contracting Strep A in recent weeks, bringing the total number of confirmed deaths of children to eight.
The number could rise today as the UKHSA is expected to release more official data about the outbreak.
Two other English children under 10 also died within seven days of being diagnosed, although the dates of their deaths are currently unknown.
Meanwhile, it has been reported that there have been eight cases of severe strep disease in Scotland, but no deaths. It is not known whether there are any ongoing severe cases in Wales and Northern Ireland.
