Scarlet Fever

Isn’t it sometimes called the kissing disease as it is ( or used to be) prevalent in universities?

JenniferEccles

Isn’t it sometimes called the kissing disease as it is ( or used to be) prevalent in universities?

That's glandular fever

growstuff

Poppyred

Many children have been seriously Ill with hepatitis since lockdown, some have needed liver transplants.

WHO organisations think the reason old be due to children not being exposed to normal childhood viruses because of lockdown.

Just saying……

Scientists have speculated that this is partially caused by a lack of immunity to adenovirus, which (not surprisingly) is a virus.

Just saying ...

Bacterial infections can be caught through close contact with other people…….just saying

My twin daughters had it in the 80s and they were quite poorly. Doctor did home visit couple of times. Let’s hope no other families lose a family member.

I had it late 1960’s,I was nursing on a burns unit and caught it there,I was 19 and very ill.

None of my children have had it.

Poppyred

growstuff

Poppyred

Many children have been seriously Ill with hepatitis since lockdown, some have needed liver transplants.

WHO organisations think the reason old be due to children not being exposed to normal childhood viruses because of lockdown.

Just saying……

Scientists have speculated that this is partially caused by a lack of immunity to adenovirus, which (not surprisingly) is a virus.

Just saying ...

Bacterial infections can be caught through close contact with other people…….just saying

I know.

kittylester

My older children (born in the 70s) all had scarletina - was that related?

Mine had scarletina too.

This Streptococcus A which causes Scarlet Fever amongst other things is doing the rounds of schools now and has been on the news almost daily.

It is a bacterial infection so can be treated with antibiotics. However, it's not like some diseases and can be caught more than once.

I hope your DGS and DD recover well, Erica.

I had scarlet fever at the age of 6 months, late 1943. Round about 1970 my children were vaccinated against it when a little girl in their primary school had it.

I remember having it as a child. I couldn’t go to school and my sister was sent to stay with relatives. I also couldn’t have library books which annoyed me greatly.

I also remember the penicillin which came as a paste in a brown glass jar. It was white and my mother persuaded me to take it by saying it tasted just like ice-cream! It was a fairly new medication then.

I hope your GC and daughter are better soon💐

My grandfather recalled having it when he was seven, so around 1920. In those days, pre-antibiotics, it was very much feared but he felt fortunate that he was able to stay at home rather than go to the fever hospital. When he recovered, the room he had been in was thoroughly fumigated and every item in it was burned.

Farmor15

growstuff - you can develop immunity to bacterial infections as well as viral ones. Some of the vaccines given currently are against bacterial meningitis and pneumonia as well as diphtheria. Also, you can develop immunity without actually becoming ill - all the symptomless cases of Covid are an example. Polio didn’t often cause paralysis when hygiene was poor and children were exposed at a young age- they had no symptoms but were actually infected.

Some people carry Strep A in their nose or throat without symptoms but if it gets into another part of their body or into bloodstream, they may become ill. People with weakened immune system or who have another infection may be more at risk.

Apart from specific immunity to various diseases, exposure to infection triggers various non-specific responses in the body which may protect against other infections.

Good post, thanks.

Wasn't it thought cross-over immunity protected some people from Covid, those who had been infected with SARS in the 2002 outbreak?

midgey

I don’t think you are quite right there Growstuff, I became immune to TB because my mother did the shopping for people in the TB hospital when I grew up.

I was found to be immune to TB too - after the BCG test at school. A grandfather and an aunt who we’d been in contact with had contracted it.

My 3 yr old GD was diagnosed with a chest infection this afternoon. None of the pharmacies in our area had any amoxicillin. One pharmacist I spoke to said she had just been talking to the BBC and asked whether there was a problem getting these antibiotics as the Govt say there is no shortage. SiL has now tracked some down 20 miles away.

I don't have you g children but the people I manage at work all have children in reception year with either scarlet fever or strep A (and I do't even know if they are the same thing)

and they really do btw i have seen photos and how worried they are

Witzend

midgey

I don’t think you are quite right there Growstuff, I became immune to TB because my mother did the shopping for people in the TB hospital when I grew up.

I was found to be immune to TB too - after the BCG test at school. A grandfather and an aunt who we’d been in contact with had contracted it.

Only about 10% of people who contract TB go on to become ill. There are research papers about it because it's a bit of a mystery. It's true that some people have had TB without knowing it, but it's also true that some people have some kind of genetic resistance.

This is the conclusion from one paper:

"The involvement of a human genetic component in susceptibility to infection with M. tuberculosis and progression to active disease is incontestable. Findings from clinical genetics, genetic epidemiology, population and functional genetics have all contributed to identify TB susceptibility genes. More intriguing is the other side of the phenotypic coin—that of resistance to either initial infection or, after infection, resistance to progression to disease. Although the phenomenon is now recognized, the exact genetic variants and mechanisms that contribute still require elucidation. The most successful approaches in resistance/susceptibility investigation have focused on specific infection and disease phenotypes and the resister phenotype may hold the key to the discovery of actionable genetic variants in TB infection and disease."

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6170664/

The cause of TB is a bacterium - it's different from a virus. People with otherwise robust immune systems can fight off the bacterium before it does serious damage. That's why TB is (or was) rife in poorer areas, where people tended to be malnourished. Continued exposure to TB won't create immunity any more than covering open wounds in germs every day will stop them becoming infected.

Farmor15

growstuff - you can develop immunity to bacterial infections as well as viral ones. Some of the vaccines given currently are against bacterial meningitis and pneumonia as well as diphtheria. Also, you can develop immunity without actually becoming ill - all the symptomless cases of Covid are an example. Polio didn’t often cause paralysis when hygiene was poor and children were exposed at a young age- they had no symptoms but were actually infected.

Some people carry Strep A in their nose or throat without symptoms but if it gets into another part of their body or into bloodstream, they may become ill. People with weakened immune system or who have another infection may be more at risk.

Apart from specific immunity to various diseases, exposure to infection triggers various non-specific responses in the body which may protect against other infections.

Thanks for that Farmor. I haven't been explaining myself very well. Back later!

I had scarlet fever in the fifties. I was nursed at home as there were no other children. Afterwards my bedroom was fumigated, all the wallpaper stripped off etc.

I was 3 weeks in the fever hospital 80 odd years ago with Scarletina , they cut my long hair ! My parents couldn’t visit . My soft toys were burnt and anything I had in hospital was burnt too , my wee brother didn’t get it
My youngest daughter had it in 80s got penicillin and was fine in a week , none of her pals or siblings got it

I remember the children being taken in ambulances and the scarlet fever was always 'recognisable' by the use of a red blanket.

sodapop - I had the same experience as you in the very early 1950's. Was only allowed to stay at home as I was an only child also and my Dad was working away a lot so it was just Mum and me. Remember talk of fumigation but don't recall it happening but I do remember being so happy I didn't have to go into the isolation hospital.

I was in London when I got it but I don’t remember any particular isolation . I had a week or two off primary school. They were pretty slack when I think about it though the doctor would come round to the house rather than have to Troy over to his surgery. No doctors visit these days at all, you have to drag yourself up to the surgery even if you are half dead.

Troy = trog . Hope it doesn’t get removed and reported and that it doesn’t have a different meaning over there !

I was having this conversation yesterday with DIL. No-one had it during my (90’s born) DC childhood. I went to primary school in the 70s and remember one girl getting it. Major drama but she recovered fine. And yes, scarlet fever and Strep A are the same thing. It doesn’t really help when diseases keep changing names…

Hellogirl1

I had scarlet fever at the age of 6 months, late 1943. Round about 1970 my children were vaccinated against it when a little girl in their primary school had it.

There is no vaccine for Scarlet Fever.