Alex Porter-Rosmovitz

Roberta Porter and Peter Rozmovits lost their 6-year-old son, Alex, suddenly to Toxic Shock Syndrome from invasive Group A Streptococcal infection (IGASS) on June 22, 2009 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. They did not understand how this could happen to a perfectly healthy and thriving boy who never had any previous medical issues. Although they were told it is a very rare condition, they discovered many similar cases right in their own community. (Sepsis and Children, Sepsis and Group B streptococcus, Sepsis and Toxic Shock Syndrome)

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Alex was 6 years old. He was always a very happy and healthy young boy. He came home from kindergarten on a Friday and in the evening had fever (~101 degrees F) and vomited. We gave him acetaminophen and Pedialyte, and he went to sleep. The next day he woke up feeling a bit better but complained of pain in his hip.

We called our pediatric clinic. They said the hip pain might have been a result of his soccer playing Thursday evening and not to worry about it. He was feeling much better and in fact, in the afternoon, he watched some car racing and ate a peanut butter sandwich. We thought he was on the road to recovery. He had no fever.

That night, he was not feeling well again and his fever came back, and the hip pain seemed to have gotten worse. In the morning, we took him immediately to the clinic. By this time, he complained of pain in his knee and hands also. While we were waiting for the doctor, I noticed a rash developing on his abdomen.

I described the course of events to the doctor he said that Alex most likely had a virus. He examined his joints and said nothing was wrong. He did order a culture for strep in case. Should I go to the hospital? He said no, only if the fever or symptoms got worse.

That night, Alex’s symptoms got worse. We took him to the hospital. Once we got into the triage room they said, “This boy is very sick and septic.” They could not get a blood pressure. We were brought to the ICU. They gave him fluids, IV antibiotics and a battery of diagnostic tests. Eventually his breathing became laboured and he went into cardiac arrest. He died at around 3 p.m. on Monday, June 22, 2009. They confirmed that he died of sepsis from invasive group strep A. We miss him every second of every minute of every hour of every day.

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Roberta founded IGASS to help raise awareness within the medical and public health communities and within the general public. Firstly, IGAS is not always recorded properly in medical dossiers. Most doctors chart the condition as “sepsis” and do not record the underlying cause. We need to know the true prevalence in Canada and worldwide. Secondly, since Group A Streptococci (GAS) remains responsive to most antibiotics, it is believed that if primary care givers/or family members can recognize the symptoms and act quickly, chances of survival increase dramatically. Long term, we need to work towards a vaccine since the symptoms of IGAS can resemble many other common viruses and illnesses making prompt and accurate diagnosis difficult. IGASS is a volunteer not-for-profit organization

Source: by Roberta Porter (Alex's mother)