The health condition of the four-year-old girl diagnosed with streptococcus type A, who was transported to Israel on Wednesday accompanied by a large medical team, remains stable but critical, with the Ministry of Health in constant and daily communication with the specialist doctors who took care of her. at the same time that another child is hospitalized at the Makarios Hospital with streptococcus.
The health condition of the four-year-old has not changed so far, however, she is being monitored by Israeli doctors, who inform the General Director of the Ministry of Health, Christina Giannaki, about her progress at regular intervals, while as far as the case is concerned of the second child diagnosed with strep, his health is not at risk as it is not invasive strep, which has killed dozens of children in Britain and other European countries. As he mentioned speaking to REPORTER,the director of the Pediatric Clinic of the hospital, Dr. Avraam Ilias, the child in Makarios with streptococcus presents a very good clinical picture.
Dr. Ilias appears reassuring since, as he said, “there is a large number of children who are positive for streptococcus, but they are in good condition and do not need hospitalization. Parents should not panic when their child tests positive for strep, because it is a germ that is easily treated. In rare cases, its strain can be aggressive and cause invasive streptococcal disease, with noisy symptoms in the child. In such a case, they should request an immediate evaluation from the child's pediatrician and it is most likely that he will need to be admitted to the hospital for further treatment”.
Streptococcus is a common microbe that affects children over the age of two and is seen with increased frequency at this time due to the close contact that children have with each other, as well as closed spaces. As Dr. Ilias said, “streptococcus can also be present in the oropharynx of healthy carriers (healthy people), without showing any symptoms. So it's nothing new. It usually causes an image of acute purulent tonsillitis, fever, swelling of the lymph nodes, while more rarely it can cause a peritonsillar abscess and more rarely it can have complications such as rheumatic fever”.
What parents should pay attention to when they show symptoms, both themselves and their children with a cough, sore throat or fever, is to avoid gatherings, wash their hands well and ventilate their personal closed spaces .
Nevertheless, recently, the wards of the Pediatric Clinic of Makarios have been filled with children dealing with respiratory infections such as RSV, influenza A and Covid, with most cases involving RSV, which causes bronchiolitis. However, non-serious cases are discharged due to the Christmas holidays.
Specifically, as Dr. Ilias said, “most of the children we treat are children with a respiratory infection, such as RSV, which affects young children and the child's symptoms last several days, usually requiring a few days' stay in the hospital , with an average duration of five days. We also have a large percentage of children with pneumonia from resistant pneumococcal strains. These are pneumonias that manifest with a serious clinical picture and children spend a long time in the hospital. During this time we had four children who had to stay in the hospital for a long time. Also, we have children with influenza A and a small percentage of children with covid”.
At Makarios Hospital, thirty-two children are hospitalized, with the flow of admissions being continuous, however, on holidays, children who they can continue their treatment at home. “Our goal is to give the children joy and to spend these days at home, as long as we make sure that they have a good clinical picture,” said Dr. Ilias.
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