A third child aged under 10 in Scotland has died with Strep A infection, according to new data from Public Health Scotland (PHS).
PHS said it is aware of 17 deaths amongst invasive group A streptococcal infections (iGAS) cases between October 3 and January 15, an increase of four since the previous report.
Three of these deaths were in children under 10, an increase of one since last week’s report.
PHS said this compares to between zero and 15 deaths reported during the same time period of previous years.
READ MORE: Man jailed after 'brutal attack' on stranger at Scottish train station
Infections caused by Group A Streptococcus (GAS) include the skin infection impetigo, scarlet fever and strep throat.
The vast majority of infections are relatively mild, but the bacteria can cause iGAS, a life-threatening infection in which the bacteria has invaded parts of the body such as the blood, deep muscle or lungs.
At least 30 children under 18 have now died with iGas across the UK so far this season, which runs from September 19.
PHS said there is currently an earlier increase in GAS and iGAS cases this season than in previous seasons in Scotland.
Total cases reported to date are higher than those observed at the peaks seen in previous pre-Covid-19 pandemic years.
In the most recent week ending January 15, there have been 532 laboratory reports of GAS, a reduction from 600 the previous week.
The agency said that although increases in GAS were reported in recent weeks in Scotland, iGAS infection levels for 2022/23 have been “generally stable and similar to previous years”.
In the week to January 15, there were 22 iGAS cases reported across all age groups, the same as the previous week.
It said this remains higher than what was reported during peaks observed in previous years, when between 12 and 18 cases per week were recorded.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here