Invasive strep A caused 17 Manitoba deaths in 2023; bacterial infections on rise, province says

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This article was published 12/01/2024 (995 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The rise of invasive strep A illness in Manitoba was the cause of 17 deaths in 2023, Manitoba public health officials have confirmed.

Other provinces are also seeing more cases of invasive strep A, particularly after the COVID-19 pandemic began, but overall, the rates more than doubled over the past decade, the Public Health Agency of Canada says.

Invasive strep A is caused by the same bacteria as strep throat and impetigo, but in its invasive form, streptococci get into the blood, lungs and deep tissue. It can cause fever, serious muscle pain, a very bad headache and is often accompanied by a rash. It can cause low blood pressure, which can lead to extreme fatigue and chills. Less commonly, it can also show up as meningitis, which has symptoms of stiff neck, headache and vomiting.

The provincial government released additional figures Friday following a public advisory warning Manitobans about the spread of invasive streptococcal infections and invasive meningococcal disease.

No one has died of invasive meningococcal disease, but there is a recent outbreak of cases. Eight cases of the meningitis-related bacterial infection have been reported in Manitoba since Dec. 1. Six of those cases resulted in hospitalization. There haven’t been any fatalities.

Invasive meningococcal disease is preventable by vaccination in some cases, and typically young children and college-age young adults are at highest risk, but recently, it has been detected among adults. Six of the eight recent cases involved adults who were older than the population most commonly infected.

There is no current outbreak of invasive strep A. Of the 17 Manitobans died of the infection last year, three were younger than 20 years old, the province confirmed, noting there is a delay in counting fatalities and the information will be updated periodically.

Manitoba medical officer of health Dr. Santina Lee, a specialist in pediatric infectious diseases, said while cases of both bacterial infections are increasing, they affect a relatively small number of Manitobans and severe effects are rare.

“We want people to be alert and to be aware, but we don’t want people to be overly worried about this,” she said.

Both bacterial infections can progress quickly, so caregivers should be on the lookout for symptoms getting suddenly worse instead of improving, or new, serious symptoms appearing after a few days.

“If someone is sick and they are not improving as you’d expect, or things are getting worse than you expect, then that is definitely a signal that you should go seek health care,” Lee said.

The number of invasive strep A cases has increased by about 33 per cent year over year. There were 200 confirmed cases of invasive group A streptococcal infections in 2023, compared with 150 in 2022.

There is no vaccine for invasive strep A. But staying up to date on routine vaccinations, including COVID and flu shots, may help keep the immune system strong and prevent a bacterial infection from moving in, Lee said.

She noted Manitoba is starting to see more cases of invasive meningococcal disease on the heels of respiratory virus infections such as the flu.

“It’s hard to know exactly what the reason is that we are seeing higher numbers of these kinds of bacterial infections at this time, but at least in the last few weeks, particularly related to invasive meningococcal disease, there seems to be some association with higher community circulation of respiratory viral infections,”” she said.

katie.may@freepress.mb.ca