Scarlet fever (also known as scarlatina) is a highly contagious disease caused by a toxin released by the strep bacteria, Streptococcus pyogenes. Most people recover from it without complications.

Scarlet fever is spread by close contact with a person having the disease, by breathing in germ-laden air, touching the skin of an infected person or touching the objects that were touched by an infected person. It usually takes two to four days since contact and infection for the first signs to appear. The disease usually lasts from one to two weeks, but the rash may start to clear after four or five days.

No vaccine is available to prevent the disease. A person with scarlet fever should be isolated for seven days from the onset of the disease to prevent infecting others.

The “scarlet” in the name of this disease refers to the pink-red rash, which occurs when the toxins are released.

Symptoms

The following are symptoms of scarlet fever:

    • Difficulty swallowing, sore throat
    • Not feeling well generally
    • Headache
    • Itching
    • Fever
    • Loss of appetite, feeling nauseous, vomiting, stomach ache
    • Swollen glands in the neck
    • Two days after the sore throat, a rash of tiny spots that are worse along skin folds. Rash feels like sandpaper
    • Flushed face with pale areas around the mouth
    • Tongue may be coated white with patches of red
    • Skin may peal when rash clears.

Treatment

After diagnosis, the following treatment can be prescribed:

    • Stay in bed
    • Take lots of cool liquids
    • Take fever-reducing medicine (don’t give aspirin to young children)
    • Take a course of antibiotics as prescribed by a doctor to prevent complications such as rheumatic fever, middle ear infection and inflammation of the kidneys
    • Calamine lotion may be used to relieve itchiness.

 

Sources
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com
http://www.nlm.nih.gov