Two more confirmed cases of deadly bacterial infection that killed girl, 6, found in nearby school
1 December 2022, 11:43
Two more cases of the deadly bacteria infection which killed a six-year-old girl have been confirmed in a neighbouring primary school.
The Year One pupil from the Ashford Church of England primary school in Surrey died of the highly infectious Group A streptococcal (iGAS) infection, which causes scarlet fever, last week.
Another child from the same school was hospitalised but is believed to be recovering.
The UK Health Security Agency has now been notified of cases of Strep A in Year 1 and Year 6 at nearby Echelford School - while a third pupil has closely-related condition Scarlet Fever.
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Parents of children at the school are said to have received a letter informing them they had switched off all drinking water fountains and were monitoring pupils carefully.
A letter is understood to have been sent to all parents of kids at Echelford, informing them they had switched off drinking water fountains and were monitoring pupils carefully.
One parent said: "Parents are of course getting very concerned about this outbreak, especially as a child died last week.
"It is every parent's worst nightmare We are being told to keep sending our kids into school, but it feels incredibly risky given there are now at least four cases in the local area at two different schools.
"Will our children be safe? It feels like it is a really serious situation. The schools and health authorities are trying to play it all down but behind the scenes there must be huge concern about this."
Senior staff at Echelford reportedly said they had been advised that children should continue to attend school as normal and parents/carers should not be overly alarmed.
They assured they would continue to review and increase their focus on hygiene throughout the school and were increasing hand hygiene and cleaning of key areas.
A spokesman for the UKHSA said: "As part of our public health response to last week's tragic news, we issued some general information about the signs and symptoms of scarlet fever, which is not uncommon, to schools in the vicinity of Ashford Primary.
"A number of other illnesses typically circulate at this time of year and parents, school and nursery staff are advised to be aware of the symptoms, to keep up with vaccinations and to seek advice from NHS 111 if they have concerns."
The bacteria - sometimes known as Strep Throat - usually causes a sore throat or skin rash and is passed by physical contact or through droplets from sneezing or coughing.
The bacteria - sometimes known as Strep Throat - usually causes a sore throat or skin rash and is passed by physical contact or through droplets from sneezing or coughing.I
In very rare cases, the infection can become invasive and enter parts of the body where bacteria aren't normally found, which can be serious.
In response to the child's death in Ashford, Dr Claire Winslade, health protection consultant at UKHSA South East, said: "We are extremely saddened to hear about the death of a pupil at Ashford Church of England School, and our thoughts are with their family, friends and the school community.
