Scarlet Fever on surfaces?

[Servalan]

DD was diagnosed as probably having scarlet fever last week, and has had 5 days quarantine while taking penicillin (sp?) so should be able to go out into the world again tomorrow.

The Dr did mention scarlet fever staying on surfaces and suggested disinfecting toys etc. I wondered if anyone knows how long scarlet fever germs would live on a surface?

I'm washing all clothes/bedding, and was going to milton wipe all her toy food, but tbh my heart is sinking a little at the prospect of disinfecting every single toy she has come into contact with over the last week! (inc. lots of jigsaws and also some things that can't physically be washed or disinfected)

She hasn't any siblings and I don't have any play dates lined up this week.

Obviously, if the virus lives on surfaces for days or weeks etc, I'll grit my teeth and get on with it, but if it's just a few hours then it seems daft.

Have tried googling to no avail.

Thanks

Anyone?

It's a streptococci bacteria, IIRC, they only survive outside a nice, warm environment for minutes. Ds had scarlet fever a couple of years ago and my GP said nothing about cleaning. Do you think yours went a little OTT???

Thanks for replying

She possibly might have been OTT. I know it was only the second case of scarlet fever she's seen since qualifying. I read the thing about disinfecting toys somewhere else though - Just nothing that said how long it would live outside the body.

I've cleaned all of DD's toy food & toy kitchen paraphenalia which has taken long enough, but there are so many other things like individual bricks she was playing with, dolls in the doll house etc, etc. (of course, being quarantined for days she's played with absolutely everything since being ill!!) Also not sure what to do about the teddy bears that go to bed with her every night!

It'll take me literally hours to clean everything - and I'm tired and want to go to bed!! I definitely don't want to put myself through all of this if there's no point to it!

By nice warm environment do you mean just within the body or a nice warm room?

By nice warm environment I mean inside the body, optimum temp 37oc, nice and damp. Normal procedure is 10 days penicillin/other antibiotic. You don't need to do any more cleaning, you can stop now Did the GP take a swab?

Symptoms:
Headache, very high temp, pink tongue, rash and nasty sore throat. Ds's pink tongue lasted 15 minutes, I only took him to the GP as I'd not seen the spots before and couldn't identify them.

Thanks so much

Dr took a swab in the middle of last week, but I haven't had the results yet! When I rang earlier they'd received them but a doctor hadn't looked at them and I was told to ring tomorrow.

She was prescribed penicillin for 10 days, has been taking it for 5 days so far (I gather after 5 days of taking penicillin I don't need to keep her indoors anymore. I'm hoping not cos we are both climbing the walls!!)

I didn't notice the pink tongue - but then if your DS's pink tongue lasted 15 mins it could have been and gone before I realised.

It should be fine to take her out, I think I had to keep ds inside for about this, just long enough for the antibiotics to start to work and the feverto break/tonsilitis to go. It's important to finish the penicillin though, untreated scarlet fever can lead to rheumatic fever and can cause heart and kidney problems.

It sounds like she should be on the mend now

Servalan (love your name!)

My dd1 (4) has scarlet fever at the moment. The dr didn't do any swabs, but she had sore throat, fever, red rash and had been in contact with a confirmed case 3 days before. She has 5 days of penicillin and is already starting to seem better after 2 days of the medicine.

The dr didn't say anything about cleaning toys, he just said to tell everyone we had been in contact with that they might have been exposed, and to make sure drinking cups were sterilised (she tends to swap everything with her sister), and buy new toothbrushes.

Do you think we will be ok staying away from people for 5 days? That will take us to Thursday - by which time, like you we will be climbing the walls!

My main concern is that it doesn't affect dds asthma, but at the moment her chest seems fine, so fingers crossed.

Hope she feels ok today.

Thanks folks

hazeyjane, hope your DD1 isn't feeling too bad and wishing her a speedy recovery. Also hoping there will be no problems with your dsd's asthma

Dr confirmed today that what DD had was def. scarlet fever. I think she got away pretty lightly cos she wasn't too ill with it - just very spotty! The main discomfort was both of us being stuck in the house for days! (DH was away for some of it, which made it a bit more intense)

The doctor I spoke to today said it's fine for DD to go out now she's had 5 days in quarantine taking the antibiotics. He reckoned I could get away without sterilising all of her toys, which is a relief I must say!

Servalan - i hope she's feeling better? My dd2 (4) had it a few months ago, we were told to keep her away from other children (nursery) for 10 days but we could take her out (in open spaces) after 5 days of anti biotics, dd was quite poorly as the GP didn't pick it up for over a week, she had the red/purple tongue ,rash and soar throat. I hated being stuck in the house too, luckily her sister didn't get it as bad and her only symptom was impatigo (sp) which is linked to scarlet fever.

We didn't sterilize anything.