An Oklahoma parent has a scary warning after nearly losing their 6-year-old son to strep throat.The boy’s prescribed antibiotics didn’t kill the infection and it spread. Wrigley is 6 years old, a big brother, loves video games and is named after his dad’s favorite baseball team.On Thanksgiving, he got sick. “He had strep throat infection. They just put him on the traditional amoxicillin and we assumed it cleared it up and fixed it,” said Stori Vincent, Wrigley’s mom.Weeks later, Wrigley’s eye looked strange.”It felt like my eye was about to fall out. It felt really bad,” Wrigley said.His mom and dad were desperate for answers. “His eye just looked like he had been worked over. Like someone had socked him or he had been hit. You knew it wasn’t just the average pink eye,” said Brandon Vincent, Wrigley’s dad.They went to the hospital, finally landing at OU Children’s.”They diagnosed it as ocular cellulitis so that’s an infection behind the eye. He had an abscess attached to his eye,” Stori said.They learned Wrigley’s Strep A infection wasn’t killed and in fact, spread behind his eye.”Thankfully, Amoxicillin is an excellent drug against this organism in general, but in cases where we fail, it might be that the medication was stopped too early or the patient already had an invasive infection starting, so if you had an abscess starting, you might need a longer course of therapy,” said Dr. Donna Tyungu, chief of pediatric infectious disease at OU Children’s.The battle to find a strong enough antibiotic was long and draining.”For the first four to five days in the hospital, every 24 hours he was just a guinea pig,” Stori said.Ten days and two surgeries later, they did it. “You go from thinking your child might lose his life, to his eye, okay it might just be a little blurry,” Stori said.Wrigley’s eye was saved.”I remember I was playing my game and I peeked it open. Then after that, I opened it really wide. I was happy,” Wrigley said.Back in December, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sent out an alert about Strep A, noting a rise in invasive cases throughout the country. Doctors encourage parents to monitor their children 48-72 hours after antibiotics stop to look for lingering symptoms or fever.The doctor also said to make sure your children are up to date on their vaccines.
An Oklahoma parent has a scary warning after nearly losing their 6-year-old son to strep throat.
The boy’s prescribed antibiotics didn’t kill the infection and it spread. Wrigley is 6 years old, a big brother, loves video games and is named after his dad’s favorite baseball team.
On Thanksgiving, he got sick.
“He had strep throat infection. They just put him on the traditional amoxicillin and we assumed it cleared it up and fixed it,” said Stori Vincent, Wrigley’s mom.
Weeks later, Wrigley’s eye looked strange.
“It felt like my eye was about to fall out. It felt really bad,” Wrigley said.
His mom and dad were desperate for answers.
“His eye just looked like he had been worked over. Like someone had socked him or he had been hit. You knew it wasn’t just the average pink eye,” said Brandon Vincent, Wrigley’s dad.
They went to the hospital, finally landing at OU Children’s.
“They diagnosed it as ocular cellulitis so that’s an infection behind the eye. He had an abscess attached to his eye,” Stori said.
They learned Wrigley’s Strep A infection wasn’t killed and in fact, spread behind his eye.
“Thankfully, Amoxicillin is an excellent drug against this organism in general, but in cases where we fail, it might be that the medication was stopped too early or the patient already had an invasive infection starting, so if you had an abscess starting, you might need a longer course of therapy,” said Dr. Donna Tyungu, chief of pediatric infectious disease at OU Children’s.
The battle to find a strong enough antibiotic was long and draining.
“For the first four to five days in the hospital, every 24 hours he was just a guinea pig,” Stori said.
Ten days and two surgeries later, they did it.
“You go from thinking your child might lose his life, to his eye, okay it might just be a little blurry,” Stori said.
Wrigley’s eye was saved.
“I remember I was playing my game and I peeked it open. Then after that, I opened it really wide. I was happy,” Wrigley said.
Back in December, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sent out an alert about Strep A, noting a rise in invasive cases throughout the country. Doctors encourage parents to monitor their children 48-72 hours after antibiotics stop to look for lingering symptoms or fever.
The doctor also said to make sure your children are up to date on their vaccines.
