Mother, 22, whose five-year-old daughter was struck down by Strep A warns parents
A mother has warned parents to take their children to the hospital if they are ill as they could be battling the deadly Strep A disease.
Tanya Dawson, 22, was left heartbroken after watching her five-year-old daughter Lyra battle the serious illness.
The little girl first started showing symptoms on Saturday although her mother believed it was a normal cold at first and didn’t think much of it.
At least nine children across the UK have been killed by Strep A, the most recent was Stella-Lilly McCorkindale from Belfast.
![Mother, 22, whose five-year-old daughter was struck down by Strep A warns parents Mother, 22, whose five-year-old daughter was struck down by Strep A warns parents](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/12/07/11/65334421-11511877-image-m-31_1670411941857.jpg)
Tanya Dawson, 22, was left heartbroken after watching her five-year-old daughter Lyra battle Strep A
![Lyra first started showing symptoms on Saturday although her mother believed it was a normal cold at first](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/12/07/11/65334419-11511877-image-m-33_1670411958918.jpg)
Lyra first started showing symptoms on Saturday although her mother believed it was a normal cold at first
In Lyra’s case her condition worsened until she struggled to eat or drink anything.
Before long she couldn’t even swallow her saliva and was unable to lift her head off her pillow and so was rushed to hospital by her mother.
‘At first I thought there was something wrong but I didn’t know anything about this illness until Sunday night,’ said Tanya, from Scunthorpe. ‘I thought she was going to die.’
Doctors initially thought that Lyra had contracted tonsillitis and gave her some medication to treat it.
![Five-year-old Stella-Lily McCorkindale, of Northern Ireland, developed a life-threatening complication of the usually harmless bug](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/12/06/15/65296567-11506821-image-m-21_1670338822882.jpg)
Five-year-old Stella-Lily McCorkindale, of Northern Ireland, developed a life-threatening complication of the usually-harmless bug
![Camila Rose Burns, four, has been on a ventilator in Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool since last Sunday. She was initially sent home with an inhaler a week earlier](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/12/04/20/65231009-11501193-image-a-31_1670186790441.jpg)
Camila Rose, four, has been on a ventilator in Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool since last Sunday. She was initially sent home with an inhaler a week earlier
However, this proved unhelpful as the five-year-old continued to struggle doing some basic tasks such as eating.
‘I felt like such a bad parent because I couldn’t do anything,’ continued the 22-year-old mother.
‘She was looking really weak seeing as she couldn’t eat or drink anything.
‘I didn’t even realise that a child at that age could get tonsillitis.
![](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/12/02/16/65172033-11495871-image-a-3_1669999344115.jpg)
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‘I was on my phone all night, listening to her breathing and panicking – thinking it was something much worse.’
Unhappy with the diagnosis, Tanya took her daughter back to hospital and found she had been battling the deadly Strep A infection.
A total of nine children in the UK have now died as a result of this infection since September.
Lyra was given some more medication to treat the illness and has started to make a slow recovery.
However, her mother feels not everyone is taking the infection seriously.
‘It was such a weight off my shoulders when I found out because I knew I was right,’ continued Ms Dawson.
‘I’m scared to think of what could have happened if I didn’t take her to hospital as quickly as I did,’ said Tanya.
‘If you see a high temperature or even a nappy rash, please take your children to A&E to get checked out. Even I thought it was just a normal bug at first.’
It comes as pharmacy bosses have warned there are ‘no drugs’ available, with blips in the supply chain expected to rumble on until into 2023.
Parents scrambling to find drugs have even been turned away from chemists due to a lack of supplies.
Phenoxymethylpenicillin, amoxicillin and clarithromycin are three antibiotics used to treat Strep A, with the drugs given through an IV drip in severe cases.
The UK Health Security Agency told doctors to have a ‘low threshold’ for prescribing antibiotics to youngsters who have suspected Strep A.
It also advised GPs to ‘maintain a low threshold for prompt referral’ to hospital of any children with persistent or worsening symptoms.
The drugs are used to treat the myriad of infections that Strep A bacteria can cause, including the skin infection impetigo, scarlet fever and strep throat.
While the vast majority of infections are relatively mild, sometimes the bacteria cause serious and life-threatening invasive Group A Streptococcal (iGAS).
This occurs when the bacteria have invaded parts of the body such as the blood, deep muscle or lungs.
Two of the most severe, but rare, forms of invasive disease are necrotising fasciitis and streptococcal toxic shock syndrome.
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