Children are suddenly dying of strep A this year.
Invasive group A strep has previously caused deaths in children, and although deaths are rare, infections do appear to be higher than usual for this point in the season in England at the moment.
Something has been added to the flu vaccine nasal spray causing children to get very sick or die.
There is no evidence to suggest this. A study shows fewer strep A infections in areas where more children had the nasal flu vaccine.
A post on Facebook makes a number of claims about flu, the nasal spray flu vaccine and strep A.
It asks “Why are kids suddenly dying of Strep this year” and then goes on to say: “doesnt [sic] take a genius to work out what's most likely been added to that nasal mist does it”.
As we’ve written multiple times previously, the nasal flu vaccine for children is not connected to strep A. This also isn’t the first time strep A has been lethal, although serious infections of this type are higher now than they usually are at this time of year.
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Strep A, also known as GAS or group A streptococcus, is a bacteria sometimes found in the throat or on the skin, often carried harmlessly. It usually causes mild symptoms such as a sore throat. In some cases it can cause scarlet fever, which is again usually mild.
More serious and even life-threatening infections can occur when the bacteria enters deeper into the body, such as in the lungs or the bloodstream—these are termed invasive group A strep (iGAS) infections.
Sadly, there have been 29 deaths from these infections in children under 18 in England since September 2022 and 5 in Wales. As of 1 January 2023, there had been two such deaths in children under 10 in Scotland since October 2022.
iGAS infections haven’t only just started to be fatal. From September 2017 to September 2018 for example, the last high season for strep A infections, 27 children died in England.
According to the latest update from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), “invasive group A strep (iGAS) infections remain rare but are currently higher than we see in a typical year”.
In another update the UKHSA said: “Reduced exposure to GAS infections during the pandemic are likely to have resulted in increased levels of susceptibility to these infections in children, noting the very low levels during pandemic.”
There’s no evidence that the children’s nasal spray flu vaccine causes strep A infections. A UKHSA spokesperson previously told Full Fact: “The flu vaccine reduces the risk of having flu and group A Strep infections at the same time therefore it reduces the chance of developing invasive Group A Strep.”
A research paper that has not yet been peer-reviewed from the UKHSA found fewer strep A infections in areas where more children received the nasal flu vaccine, though it said “there was no difference in scarlet fever or invasive group A strep (iGAS) notifications”.
Professor Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, previously told Full Fact: “Influenza vaccines do not contain group A streptococcus, they contain weakened strains of flu.
“They are very carefully regulated by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and are tested to show that there is no contamination with bacteria before they are released.”
Dr Simon Clarke, associate professor in cellular microbiology at the University of Reading told Full Fact: “The claims that it [the nasal flu vaccine] has group A strep bacteria in it are just nonsense. It would fail its quality control if that was the case.”
When others have made similar claims that the flu vaccine increases the risk of strep A infections (though not by suggesting anything has been put into the vaccines), they’ve pointed to a study that looked at what types of bacteria nasal flu vaccinated mice had in their airways as evidence.
But this paper doesn’t show a link between the flu vaccines and strep A. It looked at streptococcus pneumoniae, not strep A, and found that nasal flu vaccines did not increase the risk of severe infections.
Image courtesy of the CDC
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as false because nothing has been put in the flu vaccines to cause strep A infections and strep A hasn’t only just become dangerous to children.
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