5-year-old dies of common infection after hospital said there was nothing they could do
A 5-year-old boy from the UK died barely one day after being sent home from the hospital.Before going to Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth, Jax Jefferys was coughing and drowsy, and then developed a fever and red rash a couple of days later.Doctors initially diagnosed Jax with the flu and sent him home with a prescription for steroids.He died the following evening while returning to the hospital.“They said there’s nothing they could do — just paracetamol [acetaminophen], rest,” Charlene McCormack, Jax’s mother, told a jury at Winchester Coroner’s Court, according to the BBC.Jax had no sore throat or pus in his throat, which would have signaled a bacterial infection.
He did, however, have red rashes on his head, face, neck and back — signs of streptococcus A infection, a highly contagious bacterium that causes a range of illnesses, from mild strep throat to fatal infections.“The nurse said it could possibly be a heat rash because of his temperature, but she would pass it on to the doctor,” McCormack said.“They were never mentioned again.”A blood test was positive for the flu — but clear of everything else — and Jax was sent home and told to come back if anything else came up in further tests.The following evening, the boy complained he couldn’t feel his legs.
On the drive back to the hospital, he began to bleed and became lifeless.Streptococcus A infections happen when one of the 120 strains of group A Streptococcus bacteria enters the body via the skin or throat.While many of the illnesses caused by strep A are minor, a rare few are severe and potentially life-threatening.Mild strep infections include strep throat, impetigo (sores and blisters that form near the mouth and nose) and Scarlet fever, an infection that causes a sore throat and rash.More severe infections are cellulitis (an infection that targets tissues deep beneath your skin, a flesh-eating disease known as necrotizing fasciitis and streptococcal toxic shock syndrome...