Strep A Type Bacteria Kills 6th Child in Greece, Investigation Ordered

NAOYSSA, Greece – A Greek prosecutor directed that probe will be conducted into the death of a 7-year-old child in Thessaloniki from the streptococcus A (Strep A) bacteria following the deaths of five other children from the infection.

It was the sixth death of a child from Strep A recorded in Greece since the beginning of 2023, according to EODY.

The child, from the city of Naoussa in northern Greece, died from complications linked to the bacterial infection after being admitted to the hospital with fever and symptoms of gastroenteritis.

The next day his health deteriorated, and doctors decided to transfer him to Thessaloniki, first to Gennimatas Hospital and then to Ippokratio, where the child died, said media reports.

Petros Ketikidis, a member of the executive committee of the Panhellenic Federation of Public Hospital Workers (POEDIN), told state-run broadcaster ERT the dead boy’s 9-year-old cousin is also being treated at the Gennimatas Hospital for similar, yet mild, symptoms as the infection is contagious.

Pediatricians say that the symptoms are diverse and must be responded to quickly and that any in contact with someone found to have the bacteria must be tested, as it can be contracted through talking, coughing or sneezing.

The illness can spread quickly from person to person in households, classrooms, daycare facilities, military training camps and other settings where groups of people are close to one another, particularly where children are present.

Doctors recommend that children limit their contact with other children who have runny noses because there are no symptoms in the first few days of infection before it can become serious and even fatal.