Accessibility settings

Infectious diseases

Health protection in children and young people settings, including education – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Information regarding infectious diseases can be found at the link below:
Managing specific infectious diseases: A to Z – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Managing outbreaks and incidents – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Find your local health protection team in England – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

For Suffolk providers notifiable diseases should be reported to:

UKHSA East of England Health Protection Team (HPT)

HPTs provide support to professionals, including:               

  • local disease surveillance
  • alert systems
  • investigating and managing health protection incidents
  • national and local action plans for infectious diseases

12 December 2022 Updated Public health Message

Please find a message below from Stuart Keeble, Director of Public Health following the previous messages about Scarlet Fever and Strep A last week

National helpline for educational and childcare settings on Scarlet Fever and Invasive Group A Streptococcus (iGAS) cases

I am writing to confirm that a national helpline 03333 056 671 has been introduced for educational and childcare settings. This has been active as of 09 December 2022. It offers generic, non-clinical advice the line will be open Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm. 
Education and childcare settings are asked to use the National Helpline number.
If you call the East of England HPT you will now be asked to re-dial using the National number.
Frequently asked questions
To support our schools and early years settings, we are sharing Frequently Asked Questions which might help to answer some of your queries, please refer to these.
Frequently asked questions
Letter to parents & carers
We have also prepared an updated letter for parents and carers to advise what to do when their child is ill and where and when to seek support. 
We would really appreciate if you can forward this letter to your parents/carers and families. 
Letter to parents
Government website
Members of the public should bel be referred to the gov.uk website for information on scarlet fever.

06 December 2022 Urgent public health message: Invasive Group A Strep
Invasive Group A streptococcal infections in children, including lower respiratory tract infections with viral co-infection.
Current invasive Group A streptococcus (iGAS) infection notifications remain unusually high for this time of year, particularly in children.

Marked increases in scarlet fever notifications are also being seen. Investigations are underway following reports of an increase in lower respiratory tract GAS infections in children over the past few weeks, which have caused severe illness. A high burden of co-circulating viral infections may be contributing to the increased severity and complications through co-infection.

Carers of children with presumed respiratory viral infection should be made aware of features suggestive of secondary bacterial infection, such as clinical deterioration, and when and how to seek further help.

Symptoms:

  • a sudden fever, especially if it’s 101˚F (38˚C) or higher
  • a sore, red throat with white patches
  • a headache, chills
  • a loss of appetite
  • swollen lymph nodes in the neck, trouble swallowing

Please contact your local Health Protection Team (HPT) for advice see contact details above