Scarlet Fever

THURSDAY, April 20, 2023 – This past winter delivered a surge in strep infections, including more serious cases, a new analysis shows. After two years of very low levels of strep infections during the pandemic, the number of strep infections is now almost 30% higher than the most recent peak, which was in 2017, the report found. Still, “It is too early to definitively characterize this season since we are still in the middle of it,” the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told CNN. Epic Health Research Network, which conducted the analysis, said the spike in infections appeared to continue into early March, according to preliminary data from the electronic health records for more than 100 million people from thousands of clinics and hospitals. Among the infections Group A Streptococcus bacteria can cause are strep throat and scarlet fever. These can typically be treated with antibiotics, but there is an ongoing shortage of the most common antibiotic for these infections, liquid amoxicillin, CNN reported. More concerning is the invasive group A strep infection, which the CDC said it was investigating in December. These “infections remain rare, especially in children,” the CDC added. Strep infections are most common in children ages 5 to 15, according to the CDC. The usual strep season is December through April. The analysis found increases across ages, races, geographic regions and socioeconomic status. Sources CNN Posted April 2023

Dec 22 (Reuters) - England reported 94 deaths, including those of 21 children, from scarlet fever and invasive strep A infections so far this season the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said on Thursday. The British government last week said it was enacting protocols to ease shortages of penicillin medicines used to treat strep A infections, allowing pharmacists to prescribe alternatives where stocks are low. There have been 27,486 reported cases of scarlet fever from Sept. 12 to Dec. 18, according to the UKHSA. That compares with 3,287 reported cases at the same point in the year during the last comparably high season in 2017 to 2018, although cases in that season started to rise at a different time, the agency said. "I understand how this large rise in scarlet fever and 'strep throat' may be concerning to parents, however the condition can be easily treated with antibiotics and it is very rare that a child will go on to become more seriously ill," UKHSA's Deputy Director Dr Colin Brown said. "Most winter illnesses can be managed at home and NHS." The National Health Service (NHS) has been under intense pressure this winter, with thousands of ambulance workers in England and Wales walking out over pay on Wednesday, a day after nurses went on strike. Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Researchers have discovered an antibody with the potential to protect against Strep A infection, as well as a rare form of antibody binding, that leads to an effective immune response against bacteria. The discovery could explain why so many Group A strep vaccines have failed. Researchers at Lund University in Sweden have discovered an antibody with the potential to protect against Strep A infection, as well as a rare form of antibody binding, that leads to an effective immune response against bacteria. The discovery could explain why so many Group A strep vaccines have failed. The results are published in EMBO Molecular Medicine. Group A streptococci have several ways in which they evade the body's immune system and, when they infect us, can cause both common throat infections (strep throat), scarlet fever, sepsis, swine pox and skin infections. So far, antibiotics work against these bacteria, but should they become resistant, they will pose a major public health threat. One strategy that the scientific community uses to find new ways of fighting bacterial infections is to create target-seeking antibodies. First, the antibodies that the body's immune system produces in the event of an infection are mapped, and then their effect on the immune system is studied. In this way, antibodies can be identified that can be used both for preventive treatment and for treatment during an ongoing infection. However, it's a challenging process, and many attempts to develop antibody-based treatments against Strep A have failed. The current study shows an unexpected way that antibodies interact with group A streptococci and, more specifically, how they hook onto the probably most important bacterial protein, the M protein, on the cell surface. "We found that it happens in a way that has never been described before. Normally, an antibody binds via one of its two Y arms to its target protein at a single site, regardless of which of the two arms is used for binding. But what we have seen- and this is vital information -- is that the two Y arms can recognize and hook on to two different places on the same target protein," explains Pontus Nordenfelt, one of the authors behind the study. This means that the two arms of the antibody -- which are identical -- can bind to two different sites on a target protein. It turns out that it is precisely this type of binding that is required for effective protection, and since it is probably rare, the researchers believe, it could explain why so many vaccine attempts have been unsuccessful. It could also be a reason why the bacteria manage to escape the immune system. It has long been known that the streptococcal bacteria's M protein is of great importance for how disease occurs and develops in the body. Finding an antibody that attaches to this protein, thereby flagging it up to the immune system, can prevent the bacteria from infecting the body's cells. Since we know that the human body can fight the infection, such antibodies exist, but it is hard to locate them. The researchers therefore focused on examining antibodies in patients who had recovered from group A streptococcal infection. They managed to identify three so-called monoclonal antibodies from a patient who recovered from a Strep A infection. Monoclonal antibodies are identical copies of each other, and in this case target a single protein (the M protein) of the group A streptococci. The researchers then investigated in animal studies whether it is possible to use the antibodies to strengthen the immune system in its fight against group A streptococcus. It turned out that the antibody with the newly discovered binding mechanism produced a strong immune response against the bacteria. The researchers have now applied for a patent based on the findings in the article, and will continue to study the antibody. "This opens up possibilities where previous vaccine attempts have failed and means that the monoclonal antibody we used has the potential to protect against infection," concludes Wael Bahnan, one of the authors behind the study.