Strep A Infections in Children: Reacting but Not Over-Reacting

Strep A is a common bacterial infection of children. Most cases are mild or asymptomatic but, on rare occassions, infection causes Scarlet fever, Strep throat or even sepsis. Parental anxiety has naturally been caused in the UK by reports of the deaths (mainly from sepsis) of 9 children from a variety of locations. There is evidently a surge of childhood Strep A infections, somewhat earlier in the year than has been seen before the outbreak of Covid19. Devi Sridhar (University of Edinburgh) notes that this has already produced a surge of premature and unhelpful speculation about potential cause(s). She maintains that Strep A infection of children, is quite difficult to distinguish from other bacteria and viruses, common in the winter months. Early treatment with antibiotics is, however, generally very effective preventing serious infection. Sridhar says that, in the UK, diagnosis from throat swab results can take several days. This has led to renewed concerns about the National Health Service being 'overwhelmed'. Sridhar advocates the introduction of US-style rapid Strep A tests, where swabs can produce results within 15 minutes. This would facilitate rapid application of antibiotics in appropropriate cases (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/dec/06/strep-a-uk-myths-deaths-children). Sridhar's 'solution seems rather better than the suggestion of giving primary school UK children 'preventative antibiotics' (https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/dec/06/children-risk-strep-a-england-preventive-antibiotics). That might well give extra protection but there's already a problem with the development of antibiotic resistant bacterial strains. Some scientists believe we are in danger of effectively returning to a pre-antibiotic age, where even minor bacterial infections can kill. The last thing we need is an antibiotic-resistant strain of Strep A!