Scarlet Fever: Symptoms

After researching the symptoms, I believe this patient has Scarlet fever. The main symptoms that brought me to this conclusion is that the patient has a fever, and extensive skin rash, peeling of the fingertips, bright red lingual papillae with white coat and pharyngitis with tonsillitis. She also had a positive “strep” test (ASO). Scarlet fever is a bacterial infection caused by group A streptococcus which is also known as group A beta-hemolytic streptococci (GABHS) that comes from bacterial family of Streptococcus pyogenes. They are gram positive coccus shaped bacteria. Scarlet fever is also known as scarlatina. The predominant red rash that patients get associated with Scarlet fever is caused by a erythrogenic exotoxin that is produced by the bacteria. Scarlet fever is most commonly seen in children between the ages of 5-15 years old. The organism is able to survive extreme temperature and humidity and tends to favor warm, tropical climates. Males and females are …show more content…
It is extremely important to inform patient to take the entire course of antibiotics even if the symptoms resolve and they are feeling better. If they don’t complete the entire course, the patient could have a relapse of symptoms which could result in a antibiotic resistant strain resulting in more serious symptoms/complications that could result in death. The prognosis of scarlet fever is excellent when treated properly and clinically identified in a timely manner and treated with antibiotics. Patients will normally recover quickly within 4-5 days. The skin symptoms will progressively improve over several weeks. However, if left untreated, the prognosis is poor with a 15-20% mortality rate. There are some complications that could develop such as kidney problems, septicemia, congestive heart failure, hepatitis and rheumatic fever. If complications due develop, the prognosis decreases depending upon the organ systems