A VIRAL post from a doctor who posted pictures of her son with Strep A has reached community groups in Oxfordshire.

Bet O’Donnell wanted to spread awareness about the symptoms of the contagious disease which has taken the lives of 15 children in the UK this year.

Her three-year-old son, Isaac, contracted the illness in July this year and was hospitalised for a couple of days.

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The adult urologist, from North Wales, said she didn’t want sympathy from posting online but to help other parents learn what to look for with cases on the rise.

She said: “Isaac often gets coughs and cold as he goes to nursery but this particular cold was far worse than normal.

“It was a good four to five days of him being unwell when I noticed he was getting a high temperature and was not always responding to paracetamol.

“I remember saying to my friends on day four that maybe I should take him to the GP and get antibiotics.”

Mrs O’Donnell said she was reassured as Isaac was eating and drinking but then she noticed his knee had started to swell so immediately took him to the GP who noticed the boy’s ‘strawberry tongue’.

Strawberry tongue is the name given to a swollen, bumpy tongue and is a common symptom of Strep A.

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Isaac was immediately taken to hospital where the disease triggered an auto immune response causing renal failure, meaning the boy’s body started attacking his own kidneys.

Mrs O’Donnell said: “He didn’t had the usual rash that comes with Strep A. It’s supposed to be on the upper body.

“He did get a rash on his feet a few days later but nothing like the classical symptoms.

“In hospital he was having very odd blood tests and he couldn’t control his blood pressure and they started talking about transferring him to have biopsies’ done but he suddenly got better.”

After Isaac recovered, Mrs O’Donnell wanted to post pictures on Facebook of his symptoms so other parents could look out for them.

“I think even as a medic it’s hard to know what is normal with a cold and when you should be worrying,” she said.

“I’m a mother and a doctor and I didn’t want to scaremonger, I wanted a positive story to help others.

“I think kids at nurseries get coughs and colds all the time so it’s trying to know what is normal and not.”

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The post went viral with thousands of shares and comments across the UK.

Mrs O’Donnell added: “I want to be helpful but also not take the limelight away from people who are having a really awful time – we were one of the lucky ones.”

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Read more from this author

This story was written by Gee Harland. She joined the team in 2022 as a senior multimedia reporter.

Gee covers Wallingford, Wantage and Didcot.

Get in touch with her by emailing: Gee.harland@newsquest.co.uk

Follow her on Twitter @Geeharland

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