Giving children the nasal flu vaccine may help protect them against strep A, according to analysis by the UK Health Security Agency.
UKHSA data shows at least 19 children have now died as a result of strep A across the UK, while there are 7,750 cases of scarlet fever so far this season. This is more than treble the 2,538 cases reported during the same period over the last comparably high season – the winter of 2017-18.
Last week the UKHSA urged parents to get their children a flu vaccine after a 70% rise in hospitalisations of flu patients aged under five in a week, and an 11% fall in vaccine uptake among two- and three-year-olds compared with the past two years.
Misinformation has been circulating on social media, particularly on TikTok, falsely linking the child flu vaccine to strep A.
Dr Elizabeth Whittaker, from Imperial College London, said in a briefing to journalists this week that because strep A can be a complication of flu, having the flu jab protects against both flu and strep A.
Dr Jamie Lopez Bernal, a consultant epidemiologist for immunisation and countermeasures at UKHSA, said: “Children who catch influenza are at greater risk from subsequent infections, including group A strep [GAS], so these findings provide yet more reasons for parents of eligible children to bring them forward for the flu vaccine. This is particularly important at this time when we are seeing unusually high rates of group A strep infection across the population.”
The study found the incidence of Strep A was lower in pilot areas where the nasal flu vaccine was being offered to all primary schoolchildren, compared with areas where it was being incrementally rolled out.
In two- to four-year-olds, rates of GAS were 73.5 per 100,000 children in pilot areas, compared with 93 per 100,000 in non-pilot areas. In five- to 10-year-olds, rates were 50.3 per 100,000 in pilot areas, compared with 57.8 per 100,000 in non-pilot areas. There was no difference in scarlet fever or invasive group A strep (iGAS) notifications.
The spike in strep A infections has come as the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) issued serious shortage protocols (SSPs) for three penicillin medicines amid increased demand for the antibiotics.
Pharmacists and GPs in the UK have faced serious difficulties in securing supplies of penicillin and amoxycillin, antibiotics used to treat infections including strep A. As a result, parents have reported having to visit several pharmacies to get medicines prescribed for their sick children, while the price of some antibiotics has risen sharply – a situation pharmacists say has left them facing losses.
