Dartmouth boy, 6, died from invasive group A strep

A six-year-old boy from Dartmouth, N.S., has diedafter contracting aninvasive strep A infection and his father is now encouraging other familiesto take their children to the hospital if they have a fever.

"If your child has a fever, check their temperature every half an hour. If it goes up by a point, take them in. It'll never ever not be worth it," said Randy Davis, the father of Jaydon Davis, a Grade 1 student who attended Admiral WestphalElementary.

"The last thing you want to do is find it too late, because this stuff is so quick. It takes over so fastthat you might as well find it rightaway."

Davis said Jaydon developed a mild fever on Sunday, March 3. He said it didn't seem too serious because he was up chasing his sisters around and atesupper. The next morning, he said Jaydon seemed well enough to go to school, howeverhe came home with a fever. Davis said there was nothing out of the ordinary about his fever.

But by Tuesday, Davis said his son was vomiting, had the sweats and chills and his fever got more intense. He said they don't have a family doctor, so they booked a virtual care appointment and, after the doctor heard Jaydon cough, wereprescribed a puffer.

At that point, Davis said, they hadn't gone to the hospital becausehe didn't want to put his son through a potentially hours-long wait only to be given a children's Advil and sent home.

WATCH: Interview with senior regional medical officer of health at Nova Scotia Health:

Symptom awareness, vaccination key to fighting strep A, doctor says

6 months ago

Duration 5:19

Dr. Ryan Sommers, the senior regional medical officer of health at Nova Scotia Health, says watching for symptoms, knowing when to consult a medical professional and keeping up-to-date with vaccinations are important as the province sees an increasing number of strep A cases.

"Sometime in the middle of the night on Tuesday, the group strep A just attacked his body ... his mother found him in the morning and he was gone," Davis said.

According to Health Canada, invasive group A streptococcal disease occurs when the common strep A bacteria spreads to parts of the body where bacteria are not normally found, such as the blood, lungs, muscles, joints and bones, or the fluid surrounding the brain and spinal cord.

"If you're a parent and your toddler has a fever that's 101 degrees, take them to the emergency room. Take them in and treat it as if they have group strep A and wait until the IWKtells you that it isn't," Davis said. "It'll never not be worth it to go."

Davis said it's not clear how his son contracted strepA.

Nova Scotia Healthtold CBC News that close contacts wereidentified and those with significant connections have been offered antibiotics. It isn't considered an outbreak because there haven't been additional cases connected to it, Nova Scotia Health said.

On Monday, a spokesperson for Nova Scotia Health confirmed the death ina statement, but did not release aname or age.

"Approximately two weeks ago, there was a tragic death of a young individual in our province with invasive group A streptococcal," said Jennifer Lewandowski.

Community support

Davis said the community, including Jaydon's school, have been very supportive to the family. He said grief counselors were sent to the school and students wrote messages and drew pictures. He said those gestures have meant a lot. He said they also set up an online fundraiser forfuneral expenses and to ease some of the financial strain.

Davis said Jaydon loved being outdoors with a stick in his hands. He said he loved paper airplanesand wouldchase them around.

"He was just a force of nature, a ball of energy, the biggest personality and smile," Davis said.

"It was just amazing how many stories have come out.... The strange little kind of quirky things thathe would do. Everybody knew him as Spider-Man because he was always forever Spider-Man posing. There's very few pictures of him where he's not doing a Spider-Man pose or flex ... He was just everything. Boy, he was amazing."

Dr. Ryan Sommers,the senior regional medical officer of health at Nova Scotia Health, said the provinceis seeing an increase of invasive group Astrep. As of February, public heath has reported 39 cases this year compared to19 during the same time frame in 2023.

"This is a trend we're seeingacross Canada and internationally as well," he said."The numbers were quite low during the pandemic years wehad a very small numberof cases, but as the measures were lifted.... we justdid start seeing more cases."

Exposure at school

A letter from Nova Scotia Health circulatingon social media said students at Admiral Westphal Elementary School in Dartmouth may have been exposed to an individual with invasive group A strep.

Halifax Regional Centre for Education said they could not comment due to privacy reasons.

Jeff Desjardins, a parent of a student at theschool, said public health sent out communication about invasive group A strep on March 8.

"[My son] was quite ill before we got that notification," he said. "They advised all families who had been exposed to it to take antibiotics as a precaution."

Desjardins, whose child is now on the mend, saidhe was not aware of the signs and symptoms of invasive group A strep before then.

Invasive infections rare

Health Canada says invasive group Astrep infections are rare, but can cause severe symptoms including:

• Fever and shortness of breath due to pneumonia.
• Fever, severe pain and redness due to breakdown of the tissuesunder the skin as a result of necrotizing fasciitis (flesh eating disease).
• Fever, chills, muscle aches,nausea and vomiting.

"Rates are highest among children under five and adults 65 and older," Lewandowski said. "There were five deaths last year all individuals were over the age of 55."

There is no vaccine to prevent group A strep. According to the Pharmacy Association of Nova Scotia, rapid strep tests found at drug stores are not for invasive group A strep.

"Community Pharmacy Primary Care Clinics offer Strep A assessment (sore throat) and point-of-care testing," the association said in an email. "Those who are experiencing symptoms of invasive Group A strep should seek medical care immediately."

Sommers said hand hygiene as well as covering open wounds andcoughing into the upper arm can help reduce the spread of the disease.

"One thing that can trigger it, people can have a predisposing respiratory illness," Sommers said. "So it's really important for people to stay up to date on their COVID-19 and their influenza vaccines."