The father of a seven-year-old girl in Wales who died of Strep A says her family are "traumatised" and "devastated" by her death. Hanna Roap, a pupil at Victoria Primary School in Penarth died on November 25 just 24 hours after becoming ill with the bacterial infection.
She is one of seven children in the UK who have died in recent months after contracting the bacterial infection. The other six cases have been in children aged under 13 in England. Health officials are understood to have seen a slight rise in cases of Strep A, which can cause scarlet fever, though deaths and serious complications from the infection are rare.
Paying tribute to Hanna last week, her parents mum Salah and dad Abul, both 37, described their daughter as a "beautiful soul" and said they were "broken into a million pieces" by the tragedy. Speaking to the BBC, her father has now said his family are "traumatised" and "devastated", adding they are "numb" and "don't know what to do".
Read more: Strep A: What are the symptoms, how dangerous is it and what illnesses does it cause
He said that Hanna came home from school on Thursday, November 24, with a mild cough, which got worse by the evening and left her struggling to sleep. Abul gave her an antihistamine and her inhaler, hoping she would have "slept it off" and "feel better" by the morning. But when her condition hadn't improved, he took her to the GP, who gave her steroids.
At around 8pm that day, Abul said his wife called him to say Hanna had stopped moving so he returned home and called an ambulance. "I started doing CPR on this bed here, I wasn't able to revive her," he told the BBC in an interview in their home. Hanna was tragically pronounced dead within just half an hour of the ambulance arriving.
Abul previously told the Telegraph he believes that Hanna could have survived if she had been given antibiotics. He has now told the BBC: "I'm not a medical professional, so I took what the GP said."
A multi-agency review is being conducted following the schoolgirl's death. Mr Roap told the BBC: "I don't have all the information to hand so I can't pass judgment. I hope that everything is examined and checked correctly. I just want peace of mind that everything was done correctly. If it was, then I can't blame anyone."
On Friday the community of Penarth rallied around Hanna's family to support them on the day of her funeral. Abul said: "They didn't come for us, they came for her. She was a bubbly character who was always up to mischief and it is dead silence now in the house. We have to remember her in the right way, but at the same time we've got to move forward with our hurt."
There is no suggestion that the deaths around the UK are connected or that there is any outbreak at Victoria Primary School. Public Health Wales is working with the school to raise awareness of invasive Group A Streptococcal (iGAs) disease.
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