Scarlet Fever..

[SunshineMoon100]

Has anyone had experience with Scarlet Fever?
My child was diagnosed with tonsillitis on Thursday and given Penicillin but after no improvement and still a high temp I took her back to the Gp last night to be told its scarlet fever and to continue with the Penicillin.
Surely the penicillin should have worked by now? Im just so worried.
Shes had 4 days of penicillin and no sign of getting better yet.

Does she have the rash? Without the rash I'd say it's not scarlet fever. Anyway scarlet fever requires 10 days of antibiotics not the standard 5-7 days. My son had it last year and my DH and I both caught it off him, they both recovered in the 10 days of medication, I on the hand was hospitalised and needed steroids and IV fluids and 2 rounds of anti-b's, it was probably the sickest I've been as an adult tbh.

I'd say day 4 you should be seeing some improvement but we were still pretty ill on day 4, I think about day 7 we were feeling 90% better.

Its like loads of little pimples more than anything thats all over her legs chest and tummy.
It feels rough to touch.
She has awful head pain and just keeps spiking a temperature.
Shes just been so poorly ive been hoping to see a difference with the penicillin but no difference yet

These are what the pimples look like

Hmm, that doesn’t look like the rash my DD had with scarlet fever. DD’s skin was all mottled and her cheeks extremely red. She also had the strawberry tongue (google it) which is another sign of scarlet fever. Does your DD have that appearance? It took DD a good week of antibiotics to improve and as PP said, she had a 10 day course.

Yeah she has a slight strawberry tongue but the spots on her body she has is nothing like the ones on google. Is it normal for the temp to keep rising although shes on penicillin?
Im not sure why theyve given me 7 days if 10 days is needed

My daughter had scarlett fever/strep throat. She had the strawberry tongue and the rash was similar to that. She was quite poorly with it. She took the antibiotics for 10days I think it took a little while to work but can't remember exactly how many days.

Shivbo2014 thanks for replying.
Its just so horrible seeing them so poorly

If the rash is sandpapery feeling then I'd say yeah it's probably scarlet fever. My son had a high temp with his for about 4 days I think and he was on antibiotics from day 2 of it. I would definitely ring GP in the morning for even a telephone consultation and explain that the NHS website recommends 10 day course for scarlet fever (as far as I can remember!) And that your daughter has had a high temp for X amount of days and has seen no improvement on the anti-b's so far.

As I say my DH and DS both recovered with first round of treatment but I did not and got to the point where I couldn't swallow my own saliva and was becoming dehydrated so spent 24hrs in hospital on IV steroids, fluids and antibiotics and then given a 2nd course for a further 10 days.

Hi OP

Sorry your little one is unwell. My DD(2) had Scarlett fever last October and it was definitely the most ill she's ever been. Her rash was as your described, all rough. It took a couple of weeks to get her better but once she started to improve, the turn around was really quick. it's a horrible thing, be good to yourself too

Hi everyone
I went to my Go again this morning and he sent us to A&E.
The drs at A&E (we saw two)
Was not one bit concerned that she has been on antibiotics for 5 days with no improvement to symptoms or her temperature.
They suggested we go home and continue with the Penicillin and take it from there.
I just dont know what to do now, I feel awful
For my daughter but the drs dont seem concerned at all.

MrsMyreton did you little one have antibiotics?

Hi @SunshineMoon100 she was, yeah, but her temp lasted for about five days. After that she was still absolutely not herself and it took about 2 and half weeks in total for it to turn around. You know your little one better than anyone though, so if you're concerned, keep at them!

Op is she drinking? And is the Calpol/nurofen bringing the temp down when it kicks in? And when the meds lower it is she having some energy? Those are the main things to look out for. I would honestly insist an extra 3 days worth of anti-b's or you risk this coming back after the course or needing a full 2nd course altogether.

Both of mine had (confirmed by a swab) scarlet fever before Christmas and both had the rash like your DD.
Mine both took a long time to get over it properly... DD1 ended up in hospital having IV antibiotics to ‘blast it’ away (after her 10 day course of penicillin). The thing with the penicillin is that it stops you being contagious but doesn’t actually cure the scarlet fever, just speeds up the recovery.
DD2 wasn’t so bad but was still poorly for around 10 days. It took DD1 3 weeks to stop spiking temperatures, hence the IV antibiotics.
Remember that although scarlet fever isn’t dangerous like it used to be, it can still be quite a nasty illness.

My DS has had it twice. Dd maybe once

Neither have ever had the typical scarlet fever rash. They've had a rash, but only ever a mild one.
This time I would have not even taken him to Gzp but actually the rash and where it was was so similar to last time.

It was only then we found out he had a spot on his tonsils ( he had never complained of sore throat although his breath was smelly).

So even though rash was not overly pronounced, that and the spot on the tonsil was enough to treat it as scarlet fever.

1st time my youngest got Amoxicillon (yeah I know). His temp spiked in that time and we ended up taking abs for 10 days (was originally prescribed 7 days)

2nd time he got Penicillin. In hindsight he was never 100% on it (again he had a mild dose). It was over christmas so we were really busy and never gave it much thought.
At end of 10 days his breath was still really smelly and his tonsils were covered. Ended up getting a other course of a secondary antibiotic which sorted it out.

You need to give the Penicillin the full 10 days but don't be afraid to go back.

Ive has such a rough night with my little one, now shes itching her scalp like crazy. This started yesterday morning checked her hair for Nits nothing there. But checked again now and she has little patches of cradle cap in certain sections. Shes not had this before im really worried its sometbing to do with the penicillin or virus. Does any of you have experience on this ? X