The director of the Royal College of General Practitioners in Wales said doctors and health authorities “really don’t know” where the Strep A outbreak that has swept the UK will go. doctor Rowena Christmas, who is also a GP in Monmouthshire, added that GPs will have a “lower threshold” for prescribing antibiotics and sending children to hospital in the coming weeks.

His comments came after seven children died of invasive bacterial infection in recent months: six of them aged under 13 in England and seven-year-old Hannah Roap in Wales, who was a pupil at Victoria Primary School in Penarth. 🇧🇷

Speaking to BBC Radio Wales on Monday morning, Dr. Christmas said: “All of us – GPs, paediatricians and emergency physicians – received a notification from the UK Health Agency this morning. It is very important that we notify public health if we suspect a case.

“In general, we’re all cautious with antibiotics, trying not to prescribe too many because of resistance, but I think at this point we’re all going to lower our thresholds and prescribe a lot more antibiotics in the coming weeks.”

Read more: Streptococcus A: what are the symptoms, what is the danger and what diseases does it cause

He continued: “I’m going to set a lower threshold for prescribing antibiotics and sending the kids I’m worried about right now to the hospital, just because we really don’t know where this is going. This is a common infection that we see often, but this year we seem to have a lot more.

“We had a similar situation in 2015, 2016, that winter, and it was quickly resolved after a few weeks, so hopefully that will happen this year. But I know that my healthcare colleagues are watching this closely. Where is this going?

Christmas told the Claire Summers Breakfast Show that it was a “troubling” time for parents, as it can be difficult to distinguish between a viral seasonal cold and the more serious bacterial strep A infection, citing the fact that Hannah Roap’s father believes that his daughter might have survived if she had been given antibiotics, he said: “It’s so hard… so many children now have a cough and a runny nose and most of them will have viral infections that don’t respond to antibiotics.”

He explained that Strep A infection is “very common” and lives in the nose and throat of a quarter of children. But this year there have been more cases of streptococcus A and, as a result, more children have contracted the invasive form of the disease, which can enter the bloodstream and cause serious illness.

Reviewing the typical symptoms of the infection, Dr. Christmas said parents should be on the lookout for their children to develop a sore throat and fever. After about 12 to 48 hours, a rash appears that starts as “red spots” on the abdomen and chest and spreads to the arms, legs and face, resembling sunburn.

He said the rash is harder to see on darker skin but has a “sandpaper feel” that can help identify it. Other symptoms include headache, fatigue, nausea, vomiting, “strawberry tongue” and facial flushing. But the family doctor said it was much more worrisome if the fever persisted or was very high, or if the children weren’t eating or drinking well, or if they were having trouble breathing, breathing rapidly, or being lethargic – all these symptoms require medical attention.

She urged parents not to dismiss their concerns and to go back to their GP if they were fired if they felt something was wrong. “If you have any concerns, I think it’s important to contact your GP,” he said, adding, “You know your child… If you’re worried, come back.”

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