Has anyone got a child who has had scarlet fever but not been treated with antibiotics

[arabella2]

I ask because my DS who is 6 years old is now on day 3 of a 10 day course of antibiotics for his scarlet fever which started last thursday. Now his little sister who is 2 is displaying some of his symptoms (complains of a sore throat, temperature and rash but no smelly breath and generally less poorly than he was at least at the moment). His middle sister who is 4 is mildly down with a sore throat and very light rash so don't know about her. Anyway, have been reading on google that mild cases of scarlet fever (also known as scarletina apparently if it is mild) will pass even untreated with antibiotics. Have to see what dd is like tomorrow, but if she still seems okay as in ill but not too ill, then am wondering whether it is okay to go down the no antibiotics route. For 2 reasons really - one not to overload her with unnecessary antibiotics and 2 because she absolutely HATES being given medicine - I often have to force calpol on her (not sure how to do this have been told to aim syringe at corner of her mouth but I am mainly on my own to do this and she screams like mad and it is horrible), so the thought of having to give her antibiotics 4 times a day for 10 days is making me feel slightly ill. Obviously don't want her to have any of the rare complications of scarlet fever that I have also been reading about on google though ......

I know a child whose heart has been permanently damaged by scarlet fever complications. I do not wish to be alarmist, but I would advise having her checked over.

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Thanks. I will go to the doctor tomorrow. I alreay went with her and her sister today but the symptoms were so mild then (very very slight rash and temperature and sore throat) that the doctor told me to come back if they worsened (or became more like scarlet fever I suppose). Dd just woken up, will write more later.

When ds first got ill last week the gp told me it was tonsillitis and told me to give him antibiotics if he did not get better on his own after a couple of days. 2 days later he definitely needed the penicillin. Then MIL told dh that a rash all over was not usual for tonsillitis (gp had briefly looked at his rash that had not got very red and was only on his face and chest at that point and had said it was a viral rash) so read up about scarlet fever and ds definitely had that as tongue very red and cheeks flushed and rash all over etc... So went back to the surgery (but by chance different gp) and said about symptoms and she just said take antibiotics for 10 days instead of 5. Then today I have been reading that scarlet fever is one of the possible complications of tonsillitis and he definitely had a very pussy throat and the bad breath that goes with it. It looks like dd has scarlet fever but without the bad breath. Today when I took her to the gp she hardly looked at her slight rash which has got worse over the course of the day. All this to say that the information gps give out is kind of vague and the one gp who diagnosed tonsillitis gives examinations that are over in about 2 seconds. She did not look at dd's very slight rash at all today.
Sorry to have laboured the point but am quite worried about everything. All 3 of my children have just got over having measles and I thought we would be able to enjoy our easter holidays (this week and next) and now this instead.

Now am also wondering whether middle 4 year old dd should have antibiotics as a precautionaly measure because she has a sore throat and seems under the weather but is not really ill.

DS1 had scarlet fever without antibiotics a couple of years ago (think he was 4 at the time) and because we took him to the doctor's and were told that he just had a virus, we didn't give him anything.

When DS2 went down with the same, I took him to a different GP who diagnosed scarlet fever and took a look at DS1 who was still pretty poorly and said that he had had scarlet fever too (and had been pretty ill with it). I was so angry with the first GP who had not diagnosed it but .... he did have scarlet fever and not have antibiotics and he's fine.

I don't think that I would have taken the risk though if he had been diagnosed properly initially.

It is the complications that can follow Scarlet Fever which make antibiotics so important. (Rheumatic Fever and kidney problems.) You are normally asked to take your child back to the doctor a couple of weeks after they have had SF for a urine test to be done.
My DS5 had SF about 9 months ago. A couple of weeks ago he had similar symptoms-very poorly, v. high temp, white tongue. At the time we saw the GP the rash had not yet appeared, but she decided to treat for SF anyway-she said if there is any possibility of it treatment should be given. (He later developed the red lines of rash in his skin creases which can be a later symptom of SF so it was the right call).

My mother had rheumatic fever as a child due to untreated scarlet fever. She was in hospital for a year. I would certainly make sure my child was given antibiotics for it - in this case, they are really not unnecessary.

Thanks for messages everyone. Took dd to the doctor this morning who says she may have scarletina which is apparently a milder viral form of scarlet fever. Anyway she prescribed the antibiotics and took a swab of her throat. If on Monday when the results come back it turns out it wasn't scarlet fever then we will stop the antibiotics rather than carry on for the usual 10 days. Am about to give her her first dose but am dreading it.
Receptionist at surgery talked down to me because I dared to say "can I fill in the form" (when you have an emergency appointment) instead of "I have a medical emergency". I don't know what the matter is with these people, I wasn't in any way rude to her, just not "humble" enough. So then I start thinking that I can't possibly complain about her attitude because she might make things difficult for me in future when in reality it is all our taxes combined which pay for her to be polite to people((angry)).

Mmm... for waht it's worth, each of my 3 DDs has scarletina and took antiobiotics. 2 were fine after the course (if a bit low for a while0 but one of them was very unwell again and again at 4 weekly intervals. After a few months of this we were referred to paediatrician and she was given low dose of anti biotics for 3 months. The paed was prof of infectious diseases and was loath to prescribe unless absolutely necessary which it was in this case and DD right as rain since then (3 years ago) but when she kept getting ill it was very scary: GP told me afterwards she had suspected something "sinister". So take the entibiotics and keep an eye on yor DS afterwards

arabella-I don't think there is such a thing as "viral scarletina"! Scarletina is an old fashioned term which used to be used for "mild" SF but by it's nature SF is a bacterial infection.
I am sure your dd will feel better very soon once on the antibiotics-SF does respond to them very quickly.