Girl who suffered cardiac arrest after catching Strep A is in coma

2022-12-09

Girl, five, who suffered a cardiac arrest after contracting Strep A is fighting for her life in an induced coma after she initially fell ill with what seemed like a common cold

Five year-old Eva started showing symptoms of a common cold two weeks ago
She had contracted Strep A and was rushed to hospital after she deteriorated
Eva has now been placed in an induced coma and is fighting for her life
There has been a rise in Strep A cases, which can lead to scarlet fever, in the UK

A five year-old girl who suffered a cardiac arrest after contracting Strep A is fighting for her life in an induced coma.

Sarah Page, 33, first noticed that her daughter Eva was showing symptoms of a common cold two weeks ago.

The mum, from west Sussex, assumed it was just an ordinary winter bug until Eva rapidly deteriorated overnight.

The five year-old was rushed to East Surrey Hospital near Redhill, Surrey after her skin started to turn blue, where she was put into an induced coma and suffered a cardiac arrest.

Eva Page, 5, was rushed to East Surrey Hospital after rapidly deteriorating when she contracted Strep A

Eva has now been in the intensive care unit for 11 days, and has been slowly weaned off oxygen. She is now being fed through a tube in her nose.

Sarah told ITV News: ‘Eva had a high temperature that wouldn’t go down, muscle aches and a cough.

‘I didn’t think anything of it – just put it to a common cold. But by the Saturday Eva became really unwell, her temperature was spiking to 39.9 and she wouldn’t eat.

‘I took her to A&E where we were given antibiotics and sent home.

‘That night she deteriorated very fast, and by the morning she was blue and couldn’t move. We called an ambulance where we got blue-lighted to East Surrey.

‘She again got worse as time went on, so they decided it would be best to put her in an induced coma.’

The Group A streptococci bacteria group are responsible for a number of respiratory and skin infections such as strep throat, impetigo, and scarlet fever.

According to the UK Health Security Agency there were 851 cases OF Group A streptococci in the week to November 20, compared to 186 on average in the same week in previous years.

While most cases are mild, the bacteria can sometimes get into the bloodstream and cause an illness called invasive Group A strep (iGAS).

There has been an increase in iGAS cases this year, particularly in children under the age of 10 – with 2.3 iGAS cases for every 100,000 children aged between one and four-years-old, compared to 0.5 per 100,000 before the pandemic.

While there is no evidence to suggest a new strain is circulating, nine children in the UK have now died from the illness.

The deaths are believed to be a result of reduced social mixing during the Covid-19 pandemic which lowered immunity to the bacteria.

With Eva on the long road to recovery, Sarah is now warning other parents to keep an eye out for the signs of Strep A which include a rash, sore throat, flushed cheeks, a swollen tongue, muscle aches, a high fever, localised muscle tenderness, and redness at the site of a wound.

The 33-year-old told Southwark News: ‘We are very grateful they managed to bring her back around.

‘The first few days were extremely scary. We didn’t know if she was going to make it, but the team at Evelina have been amazing and saved our little girl.

‘Eva is a wild child always on the go. She loves her dancing and her friends. She is such a caring little girl who loves her animals.’

Source: Read Full Article