Less mixing between children due to the pandemic could have caused a drop in immunity to infections such as Strep A, a leading expert has suggested.
Six children have died in the UK after being found to have the bacterial infection and there have been more cases than normal this year.
Most Strep A cases are relatively mild and cause scarlet fever with symptoms such as a sore throat and a rash – which can be routinely treated with antibiotics.
However, the bacteria can sometimes get into the bloodstream or other parts of the body and become “invasive” and life threatening.
Microbiologist Dr Simon Clarke, from the University of Reading, said he wasn’t aware of any evidence of a new strain but suggested the COVID pandemic might have contributed to an increase in cases.
“It strikes me that as we are seeing with flu at the moment, lack of mixing in kids may have caused a drop in population-wide immunity that could increase transmission, particularly in school age children,” said Dr Clarke.
He said the cases didn’t appear to be linked – they are not clustered around any one area – but he believes “further cases over the coming weeks and months” are likely.
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The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) confirmed on Friday that invasive Strep A cases (known as iGAS) have increased this year.
The rate for this year is 2.3 cases per 100,000 children aged one to four, compared with an average of 0.5 in the pre-pandemic seasons (2017 to 2019).
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Among five to nine-year-olds it’s 1.1 cases per 100,000 children, compared with the pre-pandemic average of 0.3.
Strep A is common and generally causes mild infections – so why the spate of deaths now?
Another death of a young child from Strep A will send a chill down the spine of any parent.
So what is the risk and why the spate of deaths now?
Group A streptococcus is a common bacterium that generally causes relatively mild infections, such as sore throats.
Only rarely does the bug get into the bloodstream or some other place in the body where it isn’t normally found, multiply rapidly and cause more serious problems.
Doctors call it invasive Group A Strep, or iGAS, and that seems to be what has resulted in these deaths.
There are different strains of Strep A, and some are more likely to cause serious disease.
We don’t know yet whether a particular strain is involved in these deaths.
But this isn’t a geographic cluster; the children lived far apart. So it’s not a bug that was passed from one to another.
It’s more likely that the common link is that the children didn’t get antibiotics in time.
The UKHSA also said there was no evidence of a new strain and that the increase is “most likely related to high amounts of circulating bacteria and social mixing”.
It said five children in England had so far died this season within a week of invasive Strep A, while one child has also died in Wales.
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Strep A: Parents to be ‘vigilant’
During the last high season (2017-2018), it said there were four deaths in England in the equivalent period.
Four-year-old Muhammad Ibrahim Ali, from High Wycombe, is one of the victims. He was described as a “wonderful, kind, smiley and energetic boy” on a JustGiving page set up in his memory.
Image: Muhammad Ibrahim Ali died following a Strep A infection. Pic: JustGiving
It was also confirmed on Friday that a child from Ealing in west London had died.
Dr Yimmy Chow, from the UKHSA, said: “We are extremely saddened to hear about the death of a child at St John’s Primary School, and our thoughts are with their family, friends and the school community.
“Working with Ealing Council public health team, we have provided precautionary advice to the school community to help prevent further cases and we continue to monitor the situation closely.”
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Dean Burns’s daughter, Camila Rose Burns, has been fighting for her life at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool since Monday after she contracted the infection.
“She’s still nowhere near out of the woods, she’s really, really poorly,” he said.
Image: Camila Rose Burns is fighting for her life in a Liverpool hospital
Parents are advised to contact their GP or call 111 to get suspected scarlet fever cases treated quickly with antibiotics to limit its spread and reduce the risk of any complications.
Flu hospitalisations in young children are nearly 20 times as high as last year, figures suggest. This week, 230 under-fives were hospitalised, compared with just 12 at the same time last year.
Liverpool have won the Premier League title after a 5-1 victory over Tottenham at Anfield.
Arne Slot’s men did it in impressive style, turning over Spurs in a convincing win.
It was a rocky start for the Reds after Dominic Solanke put the north London side ahead.
However, fortunes quickly changed in the first half as Liverpool scored three times without a response.
Image: Captain Virgil van Dijk (centre) celebrates. Pic: Reuters
Image: Salah on his knees in celebration after the final whistle. Pic: AP
Image: Liverpool’s Harvey Elliott (below) and Jarell Quansah celebrate after full-time. Pic: PA
Image: Slot cheers after the full-time whistle. Pic: AP
In the second half, it took until the 63rd minute for Mohamed Salah to make it 4-1 before a fifth followed.
The Reds have won the title in manager Arne Slot’s first season in charge, and move level with fierce rivals Manchester United on 20 league championships.
But it makes them arguably the most successful English club ever as they have won more European Cup or Champions League titles.
Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk told Sky Sports after the final whistle: “It’s special and it’s something that we don’t take for granted. It’s amazing.
“A lot of emotions before the game, during the whole week, but we got the job done and we (are) truly deserved champions of England. (Liverpool is) the most beautiful club in the world and I think we deserve all of this. Let’s enjoy the next couple of weeks and let it sink in.”
Image: Liverpool’s Kostas Tsimikas poses with a Premier League trophy cut out. Pic: Reuters
Image: Manager Arne Slot and his team after the final whistle. Pic: AP
Slot took over last summer from Jurgen Klopp, who guided them to their previous and maiden Premier League title triumph in 2020, when the COVID-19 lockdown saw matches played behind closed doors.
He is the first Dutch manager to win the Premier League and the fifth man to do so in a debut campaign after Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti, Manuel Pellegrini, and Antonio Conte.
Speaking to Sky Sports he said: “They [the players] did an outstanding job today. The main job was to win. Everyone said we had got it already. But we had to make sure and we got over the line.”
Several players, including Alisson Becker, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Virgil van Dijk, and Mohamed Salah, played leading roles in both the 2025 and 2020 campaigns.
Van Dijk and Salah recently signed new contracts extending their careers at the club.
Image: Mohamed Salah takes a selfie with fans after scouring the fourth Liverpool goal. Pic: AP
Image: Fans at Anfield during the game. Pic: AP
Image: Fans in the stands at Anfield before full-time. Pic: Reuters
Liverpool will have to wait until the final game of the season – at home to Crystal Palace on 25 May – to be presented with the Premier League trophy.
It will be the first time the club’s fans will have seen their side lift the top-flight title in person since 1990.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.
Two pro-Palestinian demonstrators have thrown red powder on Tower Bridge – just moments before leading runners in the London Marathon went past.
The protesters were arrested on suspicion of causing a public nuisance and remain in custody, said the Metropolitan Police.
A video shared by Youth Demand, which is calling for a trade embargo on Israel, shows two people jumping over a barrier that separates spectators from the race course.
The pair, wearing t-shirts that say “Youth Demand: Stop Arming Israel”, are then seen standing in the middle of the road on the bridge.
Image: Pic: LNP
They throw red powder in the air as an official marathon car goes past displaying the race time.
A motorbike with a cameraman on board continues along the route, while a second motorbike stops and one of the riders gets off and pushes the pair out of the way, just before the men’s elite runners pass.
Several police officers then jump over the barrier and detain the pair, the footage shows.
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There appeared to be no impact on the marathon.
More than 56,000 participants were expected to take part in the 26.2-mile race through the capital.
Sabastian Sawe of Kenya won the men’s elite race in a time of two hours, two minutes and 27 seconds, while Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa shattered the women’s-only world record in two hours, 15 minutes and 50 seconds.
Assefa beat the previous best of two hours, 16 minutes and 16 seconds set last year in London by Kenyan Peres Jepchirchir.
The Metropolitan Police said in a statement: “At around 10.38am, two protesters from Youth Demand jumped over barriers at Tower Bridge and threw red paint on to the road.
“Marathon event staff intervened to remove the protesters from the path of the men’s elite race which was able to pass unobstructed.”
The force added that they were “quickly supported by police officers who arrested the protesters on suspicion of causing a public nuisance”.
The Met said the paint “appeared to be chalk-based” and was not expected to “present a hazard to runners yet to pass this point”.
Kemi Badenoch has not ruled out forming coalitions at a local level with Reform after the council elections next week.
Speaking to Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, the Conservative leader did however categorically rule out a pact with Nigel Farage’s party on a national level.
“I am not going into any coalition with Nigel Farage… read my lips,” she said.
However, she did not deny that deals could be struck with Reform at a local level, arguing that some councils might be under no overall control and in that case, “you have to do what is right for your local area”.
“You look at the moment, we are in coalition with Liberal Democrats, with independents,” she said. “We’ve been in coalition with Labour before at local government level.
“They [councillors] have to look at who the people are that they’re going into coalition with and see how they can deliver for local people.”
She added: “What I don’t want to hear is talks of stitch-ups or people planning things before the results are out. They have to do what is right for their communities.”
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A total of 23 councils are up for grabs when voters go to the polls on Thursday 1 May – mostly in places that were once deemed Tory shires, until last year’s general election.
It includes 14 county councils, all but two of which have been Conservative-controlled, as well as eight unitary authorities, all but one of which are Tory.
Ms Badenoch has set expectations low for the Tories, suggesting they could lose all the councils they are contesting.
The last time this set of councils were up for election was in 2021, when the Conservative Party was led by Boris Johnson who was riding high from the COVID vaccine bounce.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.