Amid Surging Strep Throat Cases Nationwide, NY Monitoring Increase

NEW YORK — Cases of invasive group A strep infections are still making people sick in New York and several other places around the country, public health officials warned Wednesday.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said its preliminary 2023 data shows group A strep infections are occurring at rates above those seen before the pandemic.

In New York, state health officials told Patch that suspected and confirmed cases of invasive Group A Streptococcus in New Yorkers appear to be a bit higher in 2023.

"Early indications show a slight increase in cases across New York and the United States this calendar year as compared before the COVID-19 pandemic," a spokeswoman for the state Department of Health said Friday afternoon. "The Department continues to closely monitor the situation and recommends that people remain vigilant to avoid infection by practicing good hand hygiene, especially after coughing or sneezing and when handling food. People with a sore throat should see a health care provider who can test for strep and determine the best treatment."

The health department said iGAS is a reportable communicable disease. In 2020, the latest year that data is publicly available, New York recorded 649 cases — 375 outside of New York City, and 274 in the city.

iGAS Cases In 2020

Long Island

• Nassau: 18
• Suffolk: 24

Hudson Valley

• Westchester: 20
• Rockland: 11
• Putnam: 1
• Orange: 13
• Dutchess: 1
• Ulster: 4
• Columbia: 2
• Greene: 3

The bacteria is commonly carried by people in their noses and throats or on the skin, but in its invasive form, it can invade parts of the body that are normally free from germs. This more severe type of strep is usually seen in children, but the CDC said some areas of the country are seeing it more often in adults, including those 65 and older.

Like other contagious illnesses, invasive group Strep A cases dropped during the social distancing of the pandemic, falling to the lowest number of cases on record since 1997 among school-aged kids.

Mild and moderate strep infections are usually treated with amoxicillin, which is in short supply. Alternative therapies are available. Invasive group Strep A roared back last year amid the shortage of drugs to treat it, although there’s no data link as yet between those developments, the CDC said.

A week after the CDC’s December warning of an uptick in cases, the World Health Organization reported invasive Group A infections were also increasing in several other countries.

Invasive group strep A is both dangerous and rare, with anywhere between 14,000 and 25,000 illnesses a year in the United States. The fatality rate is around 1,500 to 2,300 people a year, according to the CDC.

Any strep A case warrants a trip to the doctor. Typical symptoms include fever, sore throat and difficulty swallowing.

Parents and caregivers should also keep an eye out for symptoms of toxic shock syndrome — fever, chills, muscle aches, nausea and vomiting — and the so-called “flesh-eating” disease, necrotizing fasciitis — a fast-sreading swollen area on the skin, severe pain and fever, along with blisters, changes in skin color or pus at the infected area.