COPING WITH… Scarlet Fever

This nasty infection is making a comeback says Dr Melanie Wynne-Jones

- Dr Melanie Wynne-Jones

Scarlet fever once had a death rate of up to 150 per 100,000 people who caught it. Infection rates fell during the 20th century, thanks to better social conditions, and antibiotics. But they’ve been rising in the past few years.

Scarlet fever is caused by the Group A streptococcus pyogenes (GAS/strep) bacteria, which often live harmlessly in our throats or skin. But they can also cause sore throats and skin infections, which sometimes lead to scarlet fever, although it’s mostly caught by breathing in infected droplets from someone who has it. It can be passed on during the incubation period which lasts up to a week (three weeks if not treated with antibiotics). Children aged two to 10 years are most at risk, but we’ve usually acquired immunity by adulthood.

The symptoms