Scarlet fever

[hellymelly]

DD has this, (well, as its the milder form nowadays its actually scarletina). Anything I need to know? GP thought we should keep dd2 off school too as she could be contagious while incubating it, does that sound sensible? (inset day today anyway, so not an issue until next week) . She had a slight sore throat yesterday morning but when I picked her up from school she was crying and hot, the rash has come up through the night and is spreading over her torso. How long does it last? Anyone had one child have it and the other not get it? (we all sleep piled in together though, so not great as far as passing on contagious diseases).

Definately give antibiotics, it can turn into something alot more nasty if they don't get them. Ds had this a few years ago and I was told to keep him off school for 2 weeks.

I was told by my GP that once antibiotics have been taken for 24 hours, they are no longer contagious, but it took much longer for my DD to feel better, and she didn't return to school for over a week.

May be the GP has mis-diagnosed this and it isn't scarlet fever. It is a really horrible illness that requires treatment. Although, I am not sure why a GP would prescribe treatment and then tell you not to give it.

The GP didn't think she needed it , but gave us a script in case she got worse as it would be the weekend and so we wouldn't have been able to go back in. (rural area, have to travel miles to see an out of hours GP on a weekend). He said it was scarlatina, the mild form, rather than full on scarlet fever. Certainly aside from her shrugging it off quickly she did fit the picture, the rash was classic and she had the strawberry tongue.