Price of liquid penicillin to fight Strep A is hiked by FOUR TIMES as supplies ... trends now
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Outbreak: Stella-Lilly McCorkindale, five, died in Belfast
Towns and cities across Britain are running out of antibiotics used to treat children with strep A amid accusations that drugs wholesalers are profiteering from the outbreak after increasing prices more than fourfold.
A Mail on Sunday survey of chemists from Truro to Glasgow yesterday found most had no or very low supplies of liquid penicillin. Pharmacies are now asking GPs for fresh prescriptions for tablets they can crush up.
It contrasts with the message in recent days from who have repeatedly stated there is no supplier shortage, who have repeatedly stated there is no supplier shortage.
The strep A bacteria, which can cause scarlet fever and in rare cases become ‘invasive’, triggering deadly sepsis, has claimed the lives of 16 children in the past month.
The latest, a pupil of 12 at a school in Hove, East Sussex, died on Friday.
The most common drugs to treat it are phenoxymethylpenicillin and amoxicillin. Children are usually given them as a syrup.
But of 36
