Dear Mr. Rawles,
We just returned from a trip to our local urgent care clinic with our two-year old. He has had a fever of 102ish for over four days. Much to our surprise, he was diagnosed with scarlet fever. My wife and I were concerned with the flu or other related complications when he first became ill. We were not at all on the watch for scarlet fever. However, his fever completely subsided on Sunday and his energy returned. But we found find him returning to be ill again today with a fever over 102.5. We thought it best to get him into the clinic ASAP.
We both completely missed the telltale sign of the rash which accompanies scarlet fever’s other symptoms, because I had a recent bout with poison oak on my forearms and thought I had transferred it to him on accident.
So when we Google searched the topic, we found out just today a little seven-year old girl died of scarlet fever with the flu in Indiana, and the UK is reporting the highest number of scarlet fever outbreaks since the 1960s.
Bacterial Infection
For those unfamiliar with the illness, scarlet fever is a bacterial infection related to strep throat, but it produces a rash due to toxins given off by the bacteria. Scarlet fever was once the leading cause of death for children aged 5-15 in the early part of the 20th century. If left unchecked, when not fatal, can result in kidney failure, rheumatic fever, or arthritis.
The illness is spread by contact with contaminated surfaces or air droplets from coughs.
Treatment
The treatment is a 10-day regimen of antibiotics, and we want to make sure folks are aware to always consume the entire multi-day cycle prescribed, because failure to do so can very likely result in the illness returning as an antibiotic resistant strain and result in reinfection, which can be fatal or very hard to remedy even with hospitalization.
Please advise your readers to be on the watch for the symptoms during this flu season and not rule out the possibility of scarlet fever when considering what aliment might be affecting their children. Seek professional medical advice for any fever in children that persists past the fourth day.
Had rheumatic fever as a kid, although not as a result of scarlet fever. Back in the 1940’s there were a couple of outbreaks in rural Minnesota and they were contained by rigid isolation and it was enforced. Family near us, about a mile down the road had it, no one allowed on or off farm, Dr visited them, groceries were delivered, milk was fed to the hogs,etc. When they got well, they boiled their clothing, disinfected the house and painted it, and the mattresses, books, soft toys, etc that couldn’t be disinfected were burned. My parents were worried the whole time as they knew people who had either died from it or been crippled up by it. Another of those diseases like cholera that only our modern health standards keep at bay and not likely to be rare or a lot of fun if SHTF. We have used our modern medicine to sweep the old ways into the history books and we would have to relearn them the hard way.
Your experience is the backstory behind that childhood classic, “The Velveteen Rabbit”.
Mr/Mrs/Ms Thomforde,
That last line is a fantastic quote. I’m going to use your whole comment as a lesson (in home school) today but focusing on the last sentence. Thank you for such a beautiful but difficult lesson example.
It has been widely held that failure to complete a full course of antibiotics could result in the development of antibiotic-resistance. This belief has been increasingly challenged and there are many online resources to support the practice of NOT necessarily completing a full course. One source: http://www.bmj.com/content/358/bmj.j3418
I had scarlet fever in the late 1960s as a child. I lost several days (do not remember them) because my fever was so high (104-05) I was delirious. After receiving antibiotics the first time it subsided But within two weeks it returned with a vengeance. I was so young I had never taken pills by swallowing them whole… tough way to learn on large capsules. Do not mess around with scarlet fever.
I was not aware until after her death that my grandmother was in a sanitorium for almost a year after or while infected with scarlet fever. Scarlet fever or complications of , left her unable to walk for almost a year. Heard this story from an aunt at grandmothers funeral.My aunt was very young at the time , born 1937, so many details are forever lost. People tend not to talk about the bad times. I often wonder why we tend to wonder about these things only after the people that lived the story are gone. I am encouraged by the people trying to get as much info as they can from WWII vets and hope this hunger for knowlege reaches into all aspects of life.” Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it.”,never rang more true. thank you. keep up the good work.
Also in Minnesota in the 1950s the boy across the street had rheumatic fever and was also bedridden and home for a long, long time. When he grew up he became a doctor. Still meet folks, mostly Southerners, who are now suffering from post-polio syndrome. Regarding today’s world, increasing vigilance looks to be required.
Thanks for sharing your story. It might save lives.
Penicillin or amoxicillin is the antibiotic of choice to treat scarlet fever. There has never been a report of a clinical isolate of group A strep that is resistant to penicillin…..from a Google search. You can store amoxicillin fairly easy .
Spent 28 days sick with scarlet fever when a young boy in the 60’s. Not a fun time at all. For folks allergic to the ‘cillins’ antibiotic family, what would be the first choice for a broad spectrum antibiotic?
My wife usually takes doxycycline or cehpalexin (Keflex) as she is allergic to penicillin.
Does she usually get scarlet fever? Sorry but I think the writer was asking what would be the next best non cillin doe this disease. I too would like to know the answer.
My grandson has allergies to the cillin family. He gets Kflex variation or recently was given zythromyacin. He was okay with it. I keep both,Kflex and amoxicillin, in stock depending on the family member. He had a very serious reaction but it was ignored by the pediatrician. It took my daughter demanding treatment at the ER for an allergic reaction with prednisone to get him better. Don’t mess with cillin allergies. Scary stuff.
Many diseases that have been rare or unseen in America for decades are back, even some biblical diseases we only know about from the bible. You can thank uncontrolled immigration for that. For some reason it is taboo for the MSM to make that connection between these baby killing diseases and immigration. Back in Obama days when tens of thousands of children were rushed across our Southern border and quickly inserted into our cities and schools American children got sick and died from these bacterial and viral presents that these immigrants brought with them. How many Americans died? We don’t know and will never know because it was hushed up. Could be hundreds, could be more than hundreds, no one will fess up.
Typhus will also present these symptoms.
The Obama Administration took several STDs off the “Don’t Let in the Country if the person has it” list and I do not know if the Trump Administration has reinstated those diseases to the “Do Not allow in the Country if the person has it List. Yet. Old Sins of the flesh diseases we have not had in generations suddenly released back into the population. I wonder if these are being tracked.
“We’re from the government and we’re here to help.”
No worries, they are just trying to cull the herd. And the holdovers from the Obummer administration, throughout the bureaucracy, are doubling down on the culling.
As a toddler in the late 40s, my father had Scarlet Fever. I understand that he had to learn to walk again and it was a close-run thing.
I later had a case of Roseola and it really worried everyone. I honestly hadn’t heard of a case of Scarlet Fever in decades.
Great post and great reminder.
I had scarlet fever at 4 yrs old, my mother was a nurse, hygiene was always top priority , I was ushered into the back of dr. office then quarantined . Middle class , not in school yet. To this day can’t find answer. Did I suffer brain damage , that was 1965. I am 55 now.