Their parents died within hours of each other. Now N.S. sisters are warning about deadly form of strep
CBC
Two sisters in southwest Nova Scotia still can't quite believe how quickly they lost their parents, who died within a couple of hours of each other after contracting a rare infection.
Meta and Sammi Ross want people to know about the danger of invasive group A strep, or iGAS, a contagious bacterial infection that can progress rapidly.
Group A streptococcus is a family of bacteria that can cause common illnesses, such as strep throat.
But in rare cases, it can cause more serious infections by moving to the blood, lungs, muscles, bones, underneath the skin, or the fluid surrounding the brain and spinal cord.
"It just happened so fast and it was just such a shock," said Sammi Ross.
The sisters' ailing mother, Ginny Killam, went to the doctor on Tuesday, Feb. 20, with symptoms she was told appeared to be flu-related, said Meta Ross.
However, the 59-year-old's fever worsened and a rash on her body continued to spread. By Thursday, the Lower Woods Harbour woman was having trouble breathing.
"She was grey, like death," recalled Meta Ross.
An ambulance was called and the sisters watched as their mom was taken away on a stretcher.
"She looked at me and she said, 'I love you,'" said Sammi Ross. "And that was the last words I heard her say."
Killam's husband and the sisters' stepfather, Jeffery Killam, fell ill the next day.
The 59-year-old man had underlying health conditions and was admitted to Yarmouth General Hospital after starting to vomit while in the waiting room.
Meta Ross got a call from Public Health later that evening saying Ginny Killiam had been diagnosed with invasive group A strep, and as a result, all close contacts would need to take a course of antibiotics.
Both parents died on Sunday, Feb. 25.
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