Which toxin causes scarlet fever?

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What is scarlet fever, and what causes it?

Scarlet fever is a bacterial infection caused by Streptococcus bacteria from the group A family. This illness affects a small percentage of persons with strep throat (streptococcal pharyngitis) and, on rare occasions, streptococcal skin infections or wound infections. In past articles, scarlet fever was referred to as scarlatina; group A Streptococcus (for example, Streptococcus pyogenes) is commonly abbreviated as "group A strep" or "group A beta-hemolytic streptococci" (GABHS). The sunburned-skin-colored sandpaper-like skin rash that is linked with scarlet fever is the most well-known feature of the disease.

What causes scarlet fever?

Scarlet fever is caused by the bacterium beta-hemolytic streptococci (GABHS). While infecting a body site, these gram-positive coccus-shaped (elliptically formed) organisms can create an erythrogenic (red-colored) toxin. This toxin is responsible for the sandpaper-like red rash on the skin. According to studies, around 80% of children who reach the age of ten have generated lifelong protective antibodies against the Streptococcus exotoxin. Impetigo, skin desquamation, myositis, acute rheumatic fever, and necrotizing fasciitis are some of the other signs and/or diseases caused by these bacteria.

How long does it take for scarlet fever to develop?

Scarlet fever has an incubation period that can last anywhere from 12 hours to seven days. During the first subclinical or incubation period, as well as during the acute sickness, individuals are contagious. The contagious element of strep infection is the main infection. The rash is not communicable in and of itself.

Scarlet fever has a number of risk factors.

Overcrowding is one of the risk factors for scarlet fever (schools, dormitories, institutional settings). Scarlet fever is most commonly observed in children between the ages of 5 and 15, while it can also affect older children and adults. Scarlet fever is uncommon in children under the age of two.

When does scarlet fever become contagious?

As previously noted, scarlet fever is contagious during both the first subclinical (before symptoms arise) phase, which occurs 12 hours to seven days after an initial encounter with the bacteria, and the acute phase, which happens when the person has the rash and fever.

What are the symptoms and indications of scarlet fever?

A reddish painful throat, a temperature (101 F or higher), a widespread red rash (exanthem) with a sandpaper-like texture, and a tongue that resembles a strawberry are all symptoms and indicators of scarlet fever (red with small bumps also termed strawberry tongue). Some individuals experience a whitish coating on their tongue or throat, as well as swollen lymph nodes glands, headaches, abdominal pain or discomfort that causes nausea and vomiting, and/or body aches. "Goose pimples (papule) on scorched skin" or "boiled-lobster" skin have been used to characterize the scarlet fever rash in the past.

Scarlet fever is diagnosed in a variety of ways by doctors.

In most situations, a provisional diagnosis of scarlet fever will be made based on the patient's history and physical examination. Patias's signs or Thompson's signs, for example, are pink or red lines that appear in the skin folds of the armpits and groin. The lines may appear before the rash appears and may persist after desquamation as pigmented lines (skin peeling off). To determine if GABHS are present, a health care professional may obtain a throat culture or swab (or, more rarely, swabs from a wound or other sites of infection). Unfortunately, many other illnesses, such as measles, can result in both a rash and a fever.

Also read Kawasaki disease criteria

What is scarlet fever treatment?

Antibiotics that are efficient against GABHS are used to treat scarlet fever. Early therapy usually involves taking an oral penicillin drug (such as amoxicillin) for around 10 days. Some patients may only require a single injection of penicillin G benzathine in rare cases (Bicillin L-A). This is most typically used when a patient is unable to keep oral antibiotics in their system. Members of the cephalosporin family are also effective antibiotics (for example, cephalexin [Keflex]). GABHS resistance to popular antibiotics used to treat scarlet fever was discovered in a recent outbreak in China. Antibiotics may help to reduce scarlet fever complications.

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