Strep A infections have increased dramatically in Scotland in recent weeks, as fears grow over the deaths of six children in England and Wales.
Scottish health officials said on Saturday they have recorded 437 cases of Strep A in the past two weeks, similar to the last outbreak in the winter of 2017/18 – although an "awful lot earlier than we might have seen in the past".
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Medics believe the current outbreak has been made worse by the social distancing, school closures and lockdowns during the Covid pandemic, which have weakened children's immune systems report the Scottish Express.
However, leading Scottish bacteriologist Professor Hugh Pennington spoke out today to reassure people that most cases of Strep A are "very mild" with "very, very few" fatalities.
The UK Health Security Agency said the rise in Strep A cases is most likely due to high amounts of the bacteria circulating and increased social mixing.
Jim McMenamin, of Public Health Scotland, told BBC Scotland: "Over the last couple of weeks we have respectively seen 207 and 230 cases, which is very similar to what we have seen reported in the 2017/18 season but just an awful lot earlier than we might have seen in the past."
In some more serious cases, the infection can get into the bloodstream and cause a Group A Strep (iGAS) infection. Mr McMenamin added that PHS had recorded eight in children under the age of 10 since September.
Health officials confirmed on Friday that six children had died with iGAS, including five under 10-year-olds in England and a girl from Wales since September.
Prof Pennington, emeritus professor of bacteriology at the University of Aberdeen, explained that the virus had been "suppressed" during the lockdowns as it didn't have a chance to spread from person to person.
He said: "Because we were washing our hands, we were wearing masks, socially distancing, not meeting up and all that kind of thing and once all those things have gone away, the bug is getting back to normal as it were and we're getting back to a situation that occurred before the pandemic.
“Now, every year there are fatalities, very, very few, I want to emphasise that. Most cases of infection with this are very mild.
“Some children have the classical symptoms of scarlet fever, where you get a skin rash and feel pretty sick and perhaps have vomiting or diarrhoea, you know, headaches and all that kind of thing.
“Most of those get better, and would get better even if they weren't treated. But the good news is that treatment is straightforward with penicillin.
“This is not a bug that's developed antibiotic resistance, like so many other bacteria, it's still sensitive to penicillin, the whole issue really is can we get the penicillin in there quickly enough. And if you can, the disease is coped with extremely well.”
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He added: “Clearly, the onus is on the parents to take medical advice because you can't get penicillin over the counter, you have to have a prescription and then for doctors to have a higher index of suspicion that they would otherwise and one of the problems is that because of disease, this severe manifestation of disease is so relatively rare.
“Many doctors won’t have seen a case and they may not have that high index of suspicion. They will now after reading the newspapers this morning.”
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