Ontario reporting more Strep A in children and youth so far this year

This handout image provided by the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases shows an electron microscope image of Group A Streptococcus (orange) during phagocytic interaction with a human neutrophil (blue). (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases via AP)

Ontario is reporting 24 cases of Strep A in children and teenagers under the age of 18, which health officials say is higher than the number of cases during the same time period for the last four years.

According to a new Public Health Ontario report, the number of Invasive Group A Streptococcal (iGAS) infections between the months of October and November are “is higher than the number of cases reported in this age group during the same months between the 2016-17 and 2019-20 seasons.”

About 33 per cent of those cases were in children between the ages of five and nine, officials said.

This also marks more iGAS cases than the annual tally for both 2021-2022 and 2020-2021. However the health agency warns that testing and data entry may have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The report shows that there have been no fatalities related to iGAS this year. In fact, since 2016 there have only been eight confirmed deaths related to Strep A.

(1/4) Published today: An epidemiologic summary of invasive Group A Strep (iGAS) to provide data on cases among Ontario children (under 18 years of age) from October 1, 2016 to December 19, 2022. https://t.co/wMv71C1ROu pic.twitter.com/8jm7EJiwM9

— Public Health ON (@PublicHealthON) December 23, 2022

iGAS is a subgroup of Strep A in which bacteria is “somewhere in your body that normally has no bacteria,” Infectious Diseases Specialist Dr. Allison McGeer told the Canadian Press. In regular Group A streptococcus, bacteria grows in the nose, throat and sometimes the skin, experts say, whereas in iGAS it can get into the bloodstream, muscles and tissues.

• What you need to know about invasive Strep A

The rise in iGAS could be associated with the increase of Respiratory syncytial virus, according to the World Health Organization.

Ontario hospitals have been overwhelmed this fall and winter with the triple threat of RSV, influenza and COVID-19, particularly in pediatric units.

Public Health Ontario says that about 63 per cent of this year’s iGAS cases so far—or 15 patients—have resulted in hospitalization.

With files from the Canadian Press