Streptococcus A infections are experiencing an unusual increase among children in France, health authorities warned in a message from the General Directorate of Health (DGS) addressed to health professionals on Tuesday.
“Several pediatric cases of invasive group A streptococcal infections (IISGA) have been reported, in higher than usual numbers, in different regions (Occitanie, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Nouvelle-Aquitaine) in the last 15 days,” he warns. the DGS. .
“These cases resulted in the hospitalization in intensive care of at least eight children without identified risk factors, two of whom died. Three adult cases were reported, one of whom died,” the report continues.
“invasive infections”
Streptococcus A is a category of bacteria present in our body, precisely in the throat and on the skin, without necessarily being pathogenic. When it is not mild, it can cause various infections such as angina or impetigo.
In addition, it can be responsible for many “invasive infections” that can be serious, such as scarlet fever, which mainly affects children during the winter period. This disease rarely affects adults, most of the time already immunized, reminds the Health Insurance.
Nine children killed in UK
In addition to the reported cases of death and hospitalization in intensive care, the health authorities report “a resurgence of severe forms and deaths (laryngitis/pleuropneumopathy, sudden unexplained cardiorespiratory arrests suggestive of streptococcal toxic shock) after a streptococcal infection in several children, during some weeks”.
The DGS specifies that these cases “do not have any link between them” and “are probably not due to the appearance of a more virulent strain, but rather to an unusual increase in the number of cases, linked to different strains.”
Investigations are being carried out and health professionals are called to carry out tests and insist on the importance of barrier measures. This situation comes in France while nine children died from an infection caused by the bacteria in the span of a few days in the United Kingdom.
Source: BFM TV
