Colchester boy, 11, spent A MONTH in hospital with Strep A

Chontelle Gosling, from Colchester, had taken her boy Sunnie to her GP surgery in July, after he suffered with diarrhoea, sickness and pain in his side.

She said doctors suspected he was suffering from Covid-19 and he was to recover at home.

But when Sunnie’s condition worsened, Chontelle took him to Colchester Hospital’s A&E department, where he was found to have fluid “all around his lungs and his heart”.

He was blue-lighted to the Royal Brompton Hospital, in London, for specialist care.

She said the seriousness of the situation sank in while in the back of the ambulance.

Mum-of-four Chontelle said: “We got there and there were about 11 people waiting in the room for us.

“It was straight into the PICU (intensive care), they did tests, scans and everything.

“They said there is so much fluid around his lungs and they feared he had fluid on his heart.

“I was in despair.”

Sunnie pictured just after his operation to have fluid drained from his lungs (Image: Newsquest)

Medics decided to operate on Sunnie to drain the fluid from his lungs and to determine whether the fluid had reached his heart.

The surgery was a success, but the youngster was not out of the woods.

While his condition had gradually improved, he suddenly deteriorated days later and medics feared he had sepsis.

Fortunately, he responded to antibiotics and began to recover.

Sunnie spent a month in intensive care, losing much of his body weight, before he was finally allowed to return home.

He was diagnosed with invasive group A Strep infection.

Chontelle said: “It had been a bad year for us anyway, we had moved in with my grandfather to care for him, and he had just passed away before this happened.

“Thankfully our family rallied around to help us.

“But it’s awful to think of the trauma for him and realising that if doctors had just given him antibiotics before he got really ill, we wouldn’t have been in this situation.

“At hospital they were quite surprised he had managed at home for as long as he did.”

Sunnie has a check-up scheduled in two weeks time, with fluid still present in his lungs.

“He can’t run as fast as he could before and he missed most of the end of Year 6 at school, having spent a month in hospital," said Chontelle

“But we are thankful. There were times when they said he’s not out of the woods yet, when he started going downhill again.

“They told us he was a very poorly boy and that we were lucky we brought him in to A&E when we did.”

Chontelle wants to issue a warning to all parents to ensure they take the symptoms seriously.

At least nine children across the UK are believed to have died from an invasive form of Strep A bacteria.

Scarlet fever is usually a mild illness, but it is highly infectious, so UKHSA is advising parents to be on the lookout for symptoms, which include a sore throat, headache and fever with a characteristic fine, pinkish or red body rash with a sandpapery feel.

According to data from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), cases of scarlet fever are higher than we would typically see at this time of year – 851 cases were reported between November 14-20, compared to an average of 186 for the preceding years.

• READ MORE: No shortage of antibiotics to treat Strep A, says Health Secretary

It’s caused by the bacteria group A streptococci, and on very rare occasions, this bacteria can get into the bloodstream and cause invasive Group A Strep.

Sunnie was struck down with invasive Group A Strep in July – and is still on the road to recovery after a close call in hospital.

The bacteria is spread by contact with an infected person or contact with infected skin lesions.

UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) officials have suggested that a lack of mixing due to the Covid pandemic plus susceptibility in children are probably “bringing forward the normal scarlet fever season” from spring to this side of Christmas.