Scarlet fever or Kawasaki disease?! 😩

[Mummy2xg]

Hello, my 4 year old son was really poorly 3 weeks ago, he had strawberry tongue, fever, dry cracked lips, eye irritation/bloodshot, and a slight rash we went to hospital and he was diagnosed with early stages of scarlet fever. However his rash never developed into a 'typical' scarlet fever rash but his fever persisted for 6 days. We weren't convinced he had scarlet fever after all. He then went back to school after over a week off and developed chicken pox the next day (he's had chicken pox for 7days now and is still covered in spots). So again he developed a fever and feeling under the weather. He is still not 100% himself. Anyway 3 days ago I noticed the skin around his fingers had started to peel and after getting him ready for bed tonight I've just noticed the skin around his toes is peeling. Is this normal with chicken pox? Or could he have Kawasaki disease and not scarlet fever after all? I will ring the GP in the morning but my mind is doing overtime so any advice from anyone who has experienced something similar would be appreciated. Thank you x

Could it be hand foot and mouth disease?

He didn't have spots on his hands, feet or around his mouth, so I didn't suspect that. Do your hands and feet peel with hand foot and mouth? Thanks for your reply!

I was going to say could it be cocksackie and not chicken pox at all. This was exactly how my friend’s son displayed symptoms. The rash wasn’t just hands, feet and mouth but all over. The rash lasted much longer than regular chicken pox.

Did you speak to GP? my son was diagnosed with scarlet fever but it was KD and it followed a severe bout of chicken pox.
www.societi.org.uk/kssg/
Sue Davidson runs a helpline, please get some advice from her if you are not getting anywhere with GP.

The long lasting fever is typical of KD, my son’s misdiagnosis has left him with heart issues, so do get your son checked.

Thank you all for your replies. I managed to see a GP today who looked at his hands and feet and said she didn't really know what it was, but that it could be athletes foot, she then went on to say which doesn't typically make their hands peel. I mentioned KD so she said it could be, listened to his heart with stethoscope and said he seems fine now so just use this cream and see if it goes away 😑. I wasn't impressed at all. Thank you for the information on the helpline, I will get in touch and hopefully get some answers soon.

My son had scarlet fever earlier in the year and also started peeling. I believe that is a natural development of the infection but I may be wrong

www.cdc.gov/features/scarletfever/

The scarlet fever rash generally fades in about 7 days. As the rash fades, the skin may peel around the finger tips, toes, and groin area. This peeling can last up to several weeks.

CaviarAndCigarettes, His rash lasted 1-2 days and the Doctor said it would get worse However it never did. Can I just ask how soon after your son had scarlet fever did his skin start to peel?

A stethoscope cannot pick up heart issues related to KD, your doctor needs to educate herself on the condition.

I know, she isn't our regular GP, but the only one we could get an appointment with today so I took it. Sorry to hear that your son was misdiagnosed. May I ask how you eventually got a diagnosis? Should the GP of arranged blood tests today for my son?

It was picked up by echo a few years later because his paediatrician detected a heart murmur, the echo showed regressed aneurysms, his notes were then pulled and it was found that KD was mentioned but dismissed as he didn’t tick all the boxes needed to diagnose it at that time, so he was diagnosed retrospectively with KD.

Blood tests are done but they would be ordered by hospital.