He famously broke a metatarsal bone in his foot but two children who, like Rooney, were playing in new boots, developed toxic shock syndrome after blisters on their heels became infected, doctors said on Friday.

The children, a 13-year-old girl and an 11-year-old boy, each spent around 10 days recovering in hospital in separate incidents last year after being admitted with fever, vomiting and diarrhoea.

In both cases their bodies became covered in rashes and the skin peeled from their hands and feet, Birmingham Children's Hospital consultant Mark Taylor and two colleagues reported in the British Medical Journal.

Toxic shock syndrome (TSS) is a type of blood poisoning triggered by bacterial infection.

It is rare in children, and mostly follows complications from minor burns.

In adults it has become less common since the association with tampon use was recognised in the 1980s.

But the children's cases show how it can be triggered by relatively minor skin damage, showing the importance of looking for its source on the body of patients showing TSS symptoms, Taylor said.

Previous research had suggested that the foot was an unlikely site for an infection leading to TSS.