Scarlet fever, anyone with any experience?????????

[damewashalot]

Anyone out there had a child with it?

Was told by GP yesterday that ds2 has scarlet fever and needs 10 days of penicillin and can't go to school for that long.

Googled it and he had all the symptoms in the right order but today he is acting fine, he didn't seem anything more than a bit poorly in the first place but he thought of another week of him at home like this.... he's leaping around like a mad thing.

So my questions are if your child had it were they ill or just a bit unwell? could the dr be wrong? (she asks hopefully imagining sending him back to school on Monday)or am I just going to have to cope with an apparently healthy child driving me mad for the next week?

my dd had scarletina(the rash form, not throat prob) and one day was fine next was so ill..think its fits and starts and i find children 'get on with things' better than us adults do..hopehes ok

Agree it has its ups and downs but was told after 48 hours ab's not contagious . The rash can peel so may look very unsightly and be uncomfortable. Did gp take a throat swab ?

No he didn't take a swab.

He's so sad at missing school and it seems a shame for him to be missing it if he doesn't really need to be. Plus he will drive me mad

My daughter had it and she was extremely poorly for a day, got her to the doctor, got penicillin, she was poorly for another day, and she went back to nursery after a week I think. She definately did not stay at home for more than a week.

My DS had it about a month ago. He was very unwell (fever, very sore throat, vomitting and then the rash. We took him to A and E as it was the weekend and they took throat swabs and diagnosed scarlet fever there. He was on antibiotics for 14 days, but the doctor said he could go to school after 24 hours on antibiotics (although he was not actually well enough to do so).
Is you google, various sites advise between 24 hours and up to 5 days away from school. Certainly never the whole 10 days of treatment.
My DS is unwell with a similar illness again at the moment, except the rash has not come out yet. Just waiting to see...

Thanks all

When I googled I was getting things suggesting that 48hrs was long enough so found it odd that he said the whole course. wonder if a Dr with children of their own would have told me to keep him off for as long?

fwiw - i had it when i was about 10, not ill at all really, just felt like i was doing a bunk from school!

dd has had it several times, once you the antibiotics kick in, she soon feels better. Our GP says she can go back to either school/nursery after 3 days but needs to take the penicillin for the full 10 days whether or not she seems better.

my two had it earlier this year - gp did not give penicillin - ds3 developed impetigo and needed antibiotics so i would get them at start
not too poorly - a few days off food and calpoled -up good luck

It does seem that he has it then, it just sounds like he should be really ill but I guess it's not as bad as it used to be. Started with sore throat and tummy ache, then was sick (at school because cruel mother sent him) then temp and the rash and red face, oh yes and strawberry tongue.
The main doubt is over the length of time he needs off, I don't think he will need the whole 10 days.

5 days is the maximum I have seen advised-and that includes on local and health authority websites offering advice to schools.

Thanks for all of you input, he's gone back today
School checked the policy ans it's 5days on antibiotics as Tiggiwinkle said and as yesterday was day 5
Lots of housework to catch up on now.