Scarlet fever cases on the rise in England

"More than 3,500 cases of scarlet fever – the vast majority in children – have been reported since September," The Daily Telegraph reports. The news follows a warning from public health officials, that cases of scarlet fever among children have hit levels not seen since 1990. Public Health England, the government agency responsible for infectious disease, has announced that scarlet fever "notifications" are well beyond what they would expect. There have been 3,548 new cases of scarlet fever since September 2013. This is well above the expected levels, given that the average for the same period over the last 10 years has been 1,420 cases.   What is scarlet fever? Scarlet fever is a bacterial illness that causes a distinctive pink-red rash. The characteristic symptom of scarlet fever is a widespread, fine pink-red rash that feels like sandpaper to touch. It may start in one area, but soon spreads to many parts of the body, such as the ears, neck and chest. The rash may be itchy. Anybody can catch scarlet fever, but it usually affects children aged two to eight years old. Scarlet fever is extremely contagious and can be caught by: breathing in bacteria in airborne droplets from an infected person's coughs and sneezes touching the skin of a person with a streptococcal skin infection sharing contaminated towels, baths, clothes or bed linen It can also be caught from carriers – people who have the bacteria in their throat or on their sk...
Source: NHS News Feed - Category: Consumer Health News Tags: QA articles Pregnancy/child Source Type: news