Scarlet fever is caught through contact with the secretions of saliva and the nose of the individual infected with the bacteria that causes the disease, whether through sneezing or coughing. Closed environments also favor the spread of the disease, such as, for example, daycare centers, schools, cinemas and shopping malls.
After the contamination of the disease, which is more frequent in children and adults up to 15 years old, it causes symptoms such as high fever, sore throat, reddish rashes on the whole body and reddish tongue.
Scarlet fever is generally not transmissible 24 hours after the start of treatment, which is done with antibiotics, such as penicillin, so the child can go back to school and its normal activities after this time, always with the indication of the pediatrician.
Although a person may come into contact with the bacterium that causes the disease, this does not mean that he develops it, it will depend on his immune system. Thus, if one of the brothers develops scarlet fever the other may only suffer from tonsillitis and not develop the disease.
An individual may suffer from scarlet fever 3 times in life, due to the 3 different forms of the bacterium, the most common time of infestation being summer and spring.
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