Is Scarlatina in Children Common?

Relying on knowledge and education is one of the best things that we could do in order to lessen and prevent the incidences of infection, diseases and illnesses. Nowadays, more and more people, particularly those that are uninformed or unaware, are already victims of many bacterial or viral infections. One of the most common types of infection is probably the scarlatina. What is scarlatina? What are the different facts about scarlatina in children?

Scarlatina is otherwise known as scarlet fever. This type of infection is due to a bacterium that can cause distinctive type of rashes that are characterized as pinkish and reddish spots that usually covers the entire body. This condition commonly occurs to individuals who recently were infected with sore throat or strep throat. This is because scarlatina and strep throat do have the same type of causative agent, which is none other than the group A streptococcus bacteria. This is the reason why those people who also experienced school sores or impetigo can also be affected by scarlet fever. The strep bacteria commonly release toxins that can causes rashes in scarlet fever.

Scarlatina or scarlet fever became rampant over a century ago when it was considered as a type of a deadly epidemic. Fortunately these days, the number of scarlet fever cases has already significantly decreased due to the availability of antibiotics that could combat the strep bacteria. This has prevented the possibility of having a long term complication of scarlatina, which is rheumatic fever. Scarlet fever is also common in children, especially those aged from 4 to 8 years old. Children older than this age do already have at least 80% of the antibodies in the body that could help fight of the strep bacteria, while children younger than 4 years are said to be immune since they still have the maternal antiexotoxin antibodies that could defend their system from such bacteria. Both genders are affected by scarlet fever equally.

How is scarlet fever transmitted? The group A streptococcal infections are considered to be contagious. These types of bacteria can spread through the inhalation of airborne droplets coming from the sneezing or coughing of an infected person. In case the strep bacterium has contaminated the skin, close contacts can also spread the diseases as well as the wearing of contaminated clothes or lying on contaminated linens. These bacteria do have an incubation period of 1 to 4 days. Some of the common symptoms of scarlatina in children include sore throat, skin infection, swelling of the glands, headache, loss of appetite, fever, nausea, abdominal pain, body aches, malaise and a red strawberry tongue. These are some of the pertinent details about scarlatina.

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