Scarlet fever?

[Nogodsnomasters]

My ds age 4 woke yesterday (Sunday) with a thick runny nose and grumpy form. By tea time he had a temp of 38.1 which resolved quickly with calpol. He woke this morning with a milder temp of 37.7 and an itchy pinkish rash on his torso, groin and neck. My husband took him to the gp as I had to work, they said his throat was red but no pus, and that the rash "may be scarlet fever or may be viral". So I got home from work at tea time today and checked the rash again and my first thought was how it was so rough genuinely like sandpaper. But my sons temperature has returned to normal now and isn't complaining of much of a sore throat, just said its a bit sore. Tongue looks the tiniest bit red around the edges, no white coating or swelling as far as I can tell.

Does this sound like scarlet fever and if so what should I do, call gp 2 days in a row and ask for an antibiotics this time?

DD2 had scarlet fever over xmas. I was told that the only thing that definitely distinguishes it from something viral is the 'strawberry tongue'. She got that (and her voice went squeaky with swelling in her throat) about 24 hours after the temp and rash. She was poorly for about 5 days with it in all. You will need to go back for antibiotics if it is scarlet fever.

Thanks for reply, I spoke too soon on the temp front as he's gone back up to 37.9 after bed time. I feel fairly convinced that it is scarlet fever, I just don't know if the gp will do anything after seeing him today and not being fussed.

DS has scarlet fever last year. It was positively diagnosed with a throat swab and they put him in antibiotics straight away as a precaution. It's not contagious after 24 hours on antibiotics.

We initially thought he was having an allergic reaction as he was so red. We gave him his antihistamine and contacted the doctor who said to give him more and then more again. He then sent us to A&E because the "allergic reaction" wasn't responding to antibiotics!

Oh my goodness, so I guess A&E took the throat swab for you? I've given piriton to help the itching but I'm definitely going to call gp again this morning and insist on antibiotics.

Goodness me, I've just read my message back and seen all of the typos!!

Well done for interpreting that!

Yes. A&E did the swab. As soon at the A&E doc saw DS he said it was classic scarlet fever. He was so red in his face, chest and torso and sandpapery, like you said.

Ah no worries, I'm just happy to have a reply lol! I managed to get a perscription off the gp for antibiotics so hopefully this will help. Thank you

And now my husband and I have started to get a sore throat, fantastic.

Scarlet fever is caused by the same bacteria as the one that causes strep throat.

Don't suffer... go to your GP and get checked.

DH & DD had tonsillitis when DS had SF. It wasn't the greatest week in our household .

We would not have known my DS has Scarlet Fever if it had not been for the rash. I am not aware that he had a particularly sore throat. And at no point was he particularly poorly.
We took him to GP as he got sent home from nursery with either SF or Slapped Cheek. Dr confirmed it was SF.
We had actually had dd at Drs for sore throat a couple of days before and got told it was viral. She then had a bit of a rash similar to brother so both got AB’s. This is a not very good pic of DS with sF. Rash was never that bad but I think he had a bit of the SF tongue.

Well it's 3am and both my husband and I are sat on the sofa in agony, the out of hours doctor here has left out a perscription of penicillin for us both.