[MTVN]

Originally Posted by Soldier Boy

As usual the risk categories are the very young, the very old and the immune-compromised - bacterial infections like strep can be particularly nasty for the immune compromised because the bacteria multiplies exponentially.

Again I think worth reiterating that the issue at play here is not the strep itself... it's not a "new" or "worse" strep - it's the same strep that every single one of us will have had numerous times. Any time you've had a sore throat, it might have been strep.

The issue is 1) lack of previous exposure is making kids more susceptible to invasive strep (blood infection/sepsis) and 2) there's something like 3x or 4x higher case numbers (for the same reason) which will of course increase death stats.

Some more things to keep in mind;

1) Yes the fatality rate from invasive strep (sepsis) is quite high at around 9%

BUT

2) The chances of a strep A infection (even scarlet fever) developing into invasive strep is still very low if treated properly.

and 3) (I think this is the big one) the risk can be almost entirely eliminated if antibiotics are introduced quickly after onset. That's the one that's different from something like Covid - it's not a matter of just saying "oh no" and waiting it out - being vigilant and starting treatment ASAP (i.e. before sepsis) is very important.

But I imagine it's quite hard to know if something is just a nasty sore throat that will get better or something that urgently needs antibiotics, especially when access to healthcare is so poor right now