Scarlet Fever!
Thank goodness those two words do not have to strike fear into the hearts of parents anymore. Thank God for Alexander Fleming and his discovery of penicillin.
Before the widespread use of penicillin, scarlet fever was a deadly scourge. Remember Laura Ingalls Wilder’s sister Mary, who was rendered blind? Or Beth March in Little Women, whose scarlet fever left her vulnerable to rheumatic fever, which ultimately killed her?
Nowadays, we can give them penicillin and they are likely to suffer nothing more than the discomfort of the fever and rash.
So my 8-year-old has scarlet fever, or scarlatina. He probably picked it up at the swimming party last Sunday. It has a two-to-three-day incubation period, so that would fit the timeline. And I know that there was at least one kid there who has had strep throat in the past few months, so that’s probably where it came from. Scarlet fever is caused by the same bacterium as strep throat.
Fortunately for us, he’s feeling better — though he looks like a boiled lobster from his jawline down to his bottom.