Strep A: Tragic P2 pupil Stella-Lily McCorkindale girl ‘bright and talented’

Black Mountain Primary School described the death of P2 pupil Stella-Lily McCorkindale as a “tragic loss”.

“The thoughts of the entire school are with Stella-Lily’s family and friends at this sad and difficult time,” the school said in a statement.

“Stella-Lily was a very bright and talented little girl, and very popular with both staff and children, and will be greatly missed by everyone at school.

“To assist in supporting our pupils and staff at this sad time, additional trained staff from the Education Authority critical incident response team have been engaged and will be providing support to the school.

“We recognise that this news may cause worry amongst our school community and we want to reassure parents that we continue to work closely with the Public Health Agency at this time.”

The Public Health Agency advised yesterday that the scale of the Strep A outbreak in NI was not unusual, but it is unusual that it is happening in winter rather than spring.

One theory is that it is mixing with other viruses, which is causing it to have a greater impact.

Dr Philip Veale, a consultant in health protection, said it may also be a product of a change in social mixing patterns.

"Another theory is that it may reflect changes in children and adults – but particularly children's natural immunity coming out of two years of relative isolation.

"The immune system is stimulated and grows and develops through exposure through a range of viruses and infections and we now have a cohort of children that have been exposed to less infections than would be the norm.

"There is a scientific theory that this may lead to a change in how their immune system functions and could be why we are seeing more Group A Strep, scarlet fever and indeed other respiratory infections at this time of year than might be expected."