Parents, doctors and schools are being urged to watch out for signs of a bug in children which can cause serious and life-threatening illness.
The HSE has confirmed it is investigating the death of a four-year-old child which may be linked to invasive strep A infection.
Two adults over 55 have died this year in the country after the bacterial infection invaded their blood, deep muscle or lungs.
The death of the child, who is from the HSE’s area covering the north east and north Dublin, follows an increase in cases where the bug developed into the potentially lethal iGAS or invasive strep A since October, where four children aged under 10 became infected.
The child’s close contacts have been given preventive antibiotics and it will be a matter for public health teams to assess on a case-by-case basis how far this should extend in similar instances.
It comes in the wake of the death of a five-year-old Stella-Lily McCorkindale in Belfast on Monday from the severe form of the bacterial infection, the ninth such child fatality in the UK.
The girl’s school, Black Mountain Primary School, released a statement which said: “Stella-Lily was a very bright and talented little girl, and very popular with both staff and children, and will be greatly missed by everyone at school.”
Most cases of strep A, which is medically known as Group A streptococcus, are relatively harmless and can cause strep throat, tonsillitis and impetigo – a skin infection.
However, in rare cases, if the infection gets into the blood, deep muscle or lungs, it can prove fatal unless caught and treated with antibiotics.
GPs are expected to err on the side of caution and after assessing a child for a sore throat sign a prescription for antibiotics.
A common presentation of the infection in children can be scarlet fever which causes fever, a raised rash which can feel rough to the touch like sandpaper, a sore throat, and a swollen tongue.
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