A 6-year-old girl died suffered a septic shock and died in Thessaloniki, northern Greece, last Monday, February 13. Blood culture revealed that the girl was infected with streptococcus that claimed the life of several children in UK and other European countries.
It is recalled that the girl was intubated by ambulance paramedics and transported to the Ippokrateio hospital in Thessaloniki.
She had developed high fever for two days, had shortness of breath and suffered a cardiac arrest.
According to an announcement by Greece’s National Healthcare organization EODY on Monday, February 20, it was informed about the death of the child by a hospital last week.
On Monday 13/2/2023, the National Public Health Organization was informed by a nursing institution of the country about the death of a six-year-old child who suffered septic shock. The death was reported to ECDC by EODY as expected as blood culture revealed invasive group A streptococcus (iGAS – Streptococcus pyogenes).
It is a common microbe that is encountered very often and group A invasive strep infections are not monitored through the system of mandatory reporting of diseases in our country.
However, due to the recent outbreak of cases in the UK and other European countries, the EODY has requested that confirmed cases of group A streptococcus be reported by the country’s health services.
It is noted that the EODY has sent recommendations for the appropriate protective measures and the therapeutic treatment of such incidents and is alert for the early identification of cases.
This is the first death from strep A since the outbreak in Europe, and epidemiological data do not indicate a public health concern in the country, EODY stressed in its announcement.