A map has revealed the scarlet fever hotspots across England and Wales as Strep A outbreaks continue to spread.
So far nine children have tragically died after catching the infection.
The bacteria that causes scarlet fever is known as group A streptococci, and on rare occasions it can sometimes become the more serious and invasive Group A Strep, also known as iGAS.
UK Health Security Agency data reveals that for every 100,000 cases of the scarlet fever, 3.1 people develop iGAS.
But the rate is around nine per 100,000 for babies under one, and eight per 100,000 for children aged one to four.
The spreading infection has caused growing alarm as it has claimed a number of young lives under tragic circumstances.
Broken down across the country, some regions of England have far higher rates of scarlet fever than others.
The South West of England has by far the lowest number of scarlet fever cases, documenting only three.
After that, the North East, with 59 cases, Yorkshire and Humber, 66 cases, and the West Midlands, 69 cases, have the lowest instances of the bacterial infection.
From there, numbers begin to rise quickly, with 122 cases known in the East Midlands, 150 in the East of England and Wales separately, 156 in London, and 182 in North West England.
The South East of England has the most cases, with 186.
However, when population is taken into account, Wales has by far the worst scarlet fever outbreak with 4.8 people per 100,000 with the infection.
Scarlet fever case rates across England (per 100,000)
East Midlands - 2.5 people
East of England - 2.4 people
North West - 2.4 people
North East - 2.2 people
South East - 2 people
London - 1.7 people
Yorkshire and The Humber - 1.2 people
West Midlands - 1.2 people
South West - 0.05 people
In the last week Muhammad Ibrahim Ali, four, from High Wycombe, Hanna Roap, seven, from Penarth, Wales, a six-year-old child from Ashford in Surrey and a primary-school aged child from north Ealing, London have all died with Strep A infection.
Two other English children under ten also died within seven days of being diagnosed, although the dates of their deaths are currently unknown.
Meanwhile a four-year-old girl is on a ventilator in Liverpool after being infected with the bus as experts caution case numbers may be higher than in previous peaks.
Dad Dean Burns, whose daughter Camila is being treated for Strep A at Alder Hey Hospital in Liverpool, said yesterday: "She's still nowhere near out of the woods, she's really, really poorly. When we got here Monday, they said she's the poorliest girl in the whole of England.
"To go from dancing on Friday night with her friends, to a little bit under the weather on Saturday and then a bit more bad on Sunday, she's basically not the same girl any more. It's heartbreaking."
