New bacterial strain discovered in England and Wales linked to scarlet fever: article Sep 2019

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New bacterial strain discovered in England and Wales linked to scarlet fever

by Kate Wighton 10 September 2019

Strep A bacteria

A team of scientists led by Imperial College London have discovered a new strain of group A streptococcus bacteria.

Group A streptococcus (or Strep A) is known to cause scarlet fever, throat infections and – in very rare cases – invasive disease, where the bacterium enters the bloodstream or tissue and can trigger sepsis and toxic shock.

We’ve seen an unprecedented rise in the number of cases of scarlet fever since 2014 Professor Shiranee Sriskandan Study author
The research team, who published their work in the journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases, say the new strain, called M1UK, seems to have emerged in England and Wales since 2010 to become the dominant cause of Strep A infections. The team add the new strain can be easily treated with antibiotics.

The analysis suggests the new strain has increased in numbers among cases of scarlet fever, throat infections and much rarer invasive infections since 2014. The analysis also revealed the new strain produces more of one type of streptococcal toxin than existing strains - making it potentially more likely to cause common throat infections and scarlet fever, which could account for a rise in invasive infection.

The team are now calling for global vigilance to identify further cases of the strain in other countries, and highlight the importance of developing a vaccine against Strep A.

Rise in cases
Professor Shiranee Sriskandan, senior author from the Department of Infectious Disease at Imperial said: “We’ve seen an unprecedented rise in the number of cases of scarlet fever since 2014 but it was only in 2016 there was a rise in the number of serious, invasive cases due to Strep A – which are thankfully very rare- coinciding with the seasonal rise in scarlet fever. Our research, done in collaboration with Public Health England, aimed to determine if there was a link between the increase in scarlet fever and the increase in invasive infections. In undertaking this research, we identified the new strain type, linked to increases in both.”

full article here:
http://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/192830/new-bacterial-strain-discovered-england-wales/

 

[Mithriel]

Microbes are so interesting and change all the time yet they are almost taken for granted by many medical people as if they were something that was a problem in the past but not any longer.

It was strange the way scarlet fever was a problem when i was a child but I never heard of anyone having it when my children were young. Sad it is getting common again.