Group A Streptococcus, also called group A strep, is a bacterium that can cause many different infections. These may cause sepsis. Sepsis, which was often called blood poisoning, is the body’s life-threatening response to infection. Like strokes or heart attacks, sepsis is a medical emergency that requires rapid diagnosis and treatment.
Sepsis and septic shock can result from an infection anywhere in the body, such as pneumonia, influenza, or urinary tract infections. Worldwide, one-third of people who develop sepsis die. Many who do survive are left with life-changing effects, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), chronic pain and fatigue, organ dysfunction (organs don’t work properly), and/or amputations.
Group A bacteria cause several types of infections, most commonly:
Group A strep bacteria live in your nose and throat. They spread through droplets from coughing or sneezing, or by direct contact with the mucus. You might breathe droplets in if you’re close enough when an infected person coughs or sneezes. As well, the droplets may land on a solid object that you touch later. This type of contact may also occur if people who are infected blow their nose and touch an object before washing their hands. Either way, if the bacteria are transferred to your hand or fingers and you put your hand to your face, you can become infected.
If the skin is infected, as with cellulitis or impetigo, the bacteria must come in contact with a spot of skin that had an open area, such as a cut, scrape, or bite. The opening may be so tiny that you didn’t notice anything beforehand. Impetigo is common among young children as they share toys and play together.
While it’s common for group A strep to exist in your throat and nose, and on your skin, it is not common inside your body. When these bacteria enter your body, they can cause infections such as necrotizing fasciitis (often called “flesh eating disease”) and toxic shock syndrome. These are invasive group A strep infections.
Group A strep infection symptoms depend on where the infection is. The common symptoms include pain in the affected area, redness, and swelling. If the infection progresses or is a systemic infection, such as scarlet fever or toxic shock syndrome, you would develop fever, muscle aches, and flu-like symptoms.
Treatment for the infections include appropriate antibiotics. Sepsis caused by group A strep should be treated urgently with both antibiotics and IV fluids. For people with necrotizing fasciitis, surgery will remove the affected tissue.
If you suspect sepsis, call 9-1-1 or go to a hospital and tell your medical professional, “I AM CONCERNED ABOUT SEPSIS.”
Would you like to share your story about sepsis or read about others who have had sepsis? Please visit Faces of Sepsis, where you will find hundreds of stories from survivors and tributes to those who died from sepsis.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also has group A strep information for the public.
Suggested Citation: Sepsis Alliance. Sepsis and Group A Streptococcus. 2023. https://www.sepsis.org/sepsisand/group-a-streptococcus/
Updated March 3, 2023.
My story of Strep A, toxic shock and sepsis. My 11-month-old son Teddy became ill in October 2018 around Halloween. I took him to the GP twice, then to a walk-in centre. He was admitted to hospital via ambulance for observation and then discharged a few hours later. I took him back to the hospital the following morning as I knew something was not right. He was observed again and then discharged with a district nurse attending our home the following morning. Teddy was then rushed in via ambulance, he had become severely unwell. The team struggled access veins, after ... Read Full Story
Submit Your StoryView More Stories
We arrived in the emergency department at 9.30am on Sunday. At the triage desk I told them Archie had been intermittently fevering for the last 48 hours, fluid intake and urine output had gradually reduced over that time and had a fine red rash that had just started to appear over his back and abdomen. After a long wait in the emergency waiting area (checked on a couple of times) we were admitted to a bed at around 3pm. The focus for the doctors was getting Archie to urinate, so we kept going with hydralyte and were hopeful that it ... Read Full Story
Submit Your StoryView More Stories
It was December 27th 2022 and I was in Dublin, Ireland, to visit my family. I am Irish, but living now in Berlin with my wife and 2 children. In my brother’s home I noticed that my left knuckle on my index finger was red and swollen. I figured I must have banged it. An hour later I was shivering, it was so sudden. My wife advised that we should go back to our hotel. That night, I developed flu symptoms and diarrhea along with vomiting. My wife had similar symptoms so I figured we both had the same bug. ... Read Full Story
Submit Your StoryView More Stories
On the morning of April 28, 2018, Nash was a normal, healthy 6-year-old playing in an early morning soccer game. That same evening, we almost lost our sweet boy to sepsis. That Saturday was full of soccer games and celebration – April is a month full of birthdays for our family, including Nash. On that April afternoon we had gone to a family member’s home to celebrate a birthday. While there, Nash began to complain of belly pain and had developed a fever. We took him home and he laid down to rest. As the day progressed his pain increased ... Read Full Story
Submit Your StoryView More Stories
Always a smile on her face, Evelyn was on the go from morning to night. She had to be doing something and we had to keep up! Evelyn was a kindergarten student and loved going to school, often doing schoolwork even when she did not have to. Evelyn lived life big and her love for her family was endless. On Tuesday January 3,2023 Evelyn came home from school not feeling well. That evening she had a 103.4 fever with vomiting and an overall feeling of being ill. We decided to call the pediatrician’s office for peace of mind. We were ... Read Full Story
Submit Your StoryView More StoriesGroup A Streptococcus, also called group A strep, is a bacterium that can cause many different infections. These may cause sepsis. Sometimes incorrectly called blood poisoning, sepsis is the body’s often deadly response to infection. Like strokes or heart attacks, sepsis is a medical emergency that requires rapid diagnosis and treatment.
