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In the early 20th century, scarlet fever was a leading cause of death in children, but even before World War II and the introduction of antibiotics, its severity was already declining. This decline is suggested to be due to better living conditions, the introduction of better control measures, or a decline in the virulence of the bacteria.
Treatment with antibiotics shortens the duration of the acute illness by about 16 hours. [13] The primary reason for treatment with antibiotics is to reduce the risk of complications such as rheumatic fever and retropharyngeal abscesses. [13] Antibiotics prevent acute rheumatic fever if given within 9 days of the onset of symptoms. [16]
The treatment of choice is penicillin, and the duration of treatment is around 10 days. [23] Antibiotic therapy (using injected penicillin) has been shown to reduce the risk of acute rheumatic fever. [24] In individuals with a penicillin allergy, erythromycin, other macrolides, and cephalosporins have been shown to be effective treatments. [25]
Side effects may only last for a short time and then go away. Side effects can be relieved in some cases with non pharmacological treatment. [4] Some side effects require treatment to correct potentially serious and sometimes fatal reactions to penicillin. Penicillin has not been found to cause birth defects. [5]
Toxic shock syndrome (TSS) is a condition caused by bacterial toxins. [1] Symptoms may include fever, rash, skin peeling, and low blood pressure. [1] There may also be symptoms related to the specific underlying infection such as mastitis, osteomyelitis, necrotising fasciitis, or pneumonia.
The ASOT helps direct antimicrobial treatment and is used to assist in the diagnosis of scarlet fever, rheumatic fever, and post infectious glomerulonephritis. [citation needed] A positive test usually is > 200 units/mL, [1] but normal ranges vary from laboratory to laboratory and by age. [2] The false negatives rate is 20 to 30%. [1]
In October, 1923, Dick and her husband successfully isolated hemolytic streptococcus "as the causative agent of scarlet fever," and later developed the Dick test, a skin test which determined a person's susceptibility to the disease [3] and produced "active immunization by larger doses of toxin and antitoxin for treatment, prevention, and ...
Penicillin, an antibiotic, is the drug of choice for the treatment of scarlet fever as for any other S. pyogenes infection. For those who are allergic to penicillin, the antibiotics erythromycin or clindamycin can be used. However, occasional resistance to these drugs has been reported. [16]