Super flu bug in UK can kill kids – within 2 days

At least 10 children endangered by UK playground superbug
Today Online 29 Apr 08;

LONDON — A superbug capable of killing healthy youngsters within 48 hours is on the rise in Britain's playgrounds and has left at least 10 children fighting for their lives.

Cases of the bug, known as Panton-Valentine Leukocidin (PVL), have more than doubled since 2005, official figures show.

Doctors are particularly concerned that many young people could have been exposed to the infection in their school playgrounds or in local parks.

Children are especially vulnerable to PVL, a member of the Staphylococcus aureas family of infections, and it can combine with MRSA, the deadly hospital superbug.

Once contracted, the infection acts quickly to kill off white blood cells, an essential part of the body's immune system. The bug can also enter a patient's skeleton, where it becomes hard to cure. Doctors usually treat the disease by removing the infected bone.

Cases of PVL combining with MRSA were first reported in America several years ago and are becoming more common. Mr Mark Enright, professor of molecular epidemiology at Imperial College London, said: "This infection can kill healthy children in one to two days, but the authorities are continuing to treat MRSA as a purely hospital problem and trying to assuage public opinion."

Leading microbiologist Richard Wise told a newspaper that he warned a government health minister of the threat three years ago. Cases of the infection have been reported from the south coast to Birmingham, and a number of different strains have been identified.

Daniel Roberts, a nine-year-old from London, fell seriously ill after he picked up a graze playing football and it became infected. "One day, he was playing happily, and the next day he couldn't see, speak or move," said his mother, Sherean. Daniel was in a coma for a month and is now largely confined to a wheelchair.

A Health Protection Agency spokesman said: "The risk to the general public of becoming infected with PVL-S aureas is small and the majority of the strains identified in the United Kingdom are treatable with many antibiotics. But it is always good practice to maintain appropriate hygiene measures, which include proper cleansing and disinfection of cuts and minor wounds."

The infection can cause symptoms ranging from minor skin problems to a deadly form of pneumonia.

— THE DAILY TELEGRAPH