Scarlet fever: Over 400 children infected in England

The plague has been reported to come back, but now it seems that another disease that plagued thousands of people over a hundred years ago is also making a return. It was recently reported that hundreds of children in England have been infected with scarlet fever.

The Daily Mail reports that over 480 children across both England and Wales have been diagnosed with the contagious disease several weeks ago. The place with the highest number of cases was in the North West with 105 reported cases of the fever. Yorkshire and the Humber each have 53 cases reported while the East Midlands had 59 reported cases of children getting diagnosed with the disease. 54 cases have been reported in London, and 36 in Outer London.

This news comes following the 419 cases of scarlet fever reported the week prior, and 281 cases the week before that one. This spike in scarlet fever cases has only gone up since 2013, with 15,000 to 30,000 children being diagnosed every year in England.

Scarlet fever was prevalent in Victorian-era England and mainly affects children under 10 years old. Referred as such by the red rash that would be present on the face and on other parts of the body, the contagious disease led health officials to quarantine up to 20,000 children in hospitals every year during this time period. Families with children who were infected or who had died from the fever had to burn the belongings used by the child in order to prevent the virus from spreading.

In recent years, the outbreak normally happens in nurseries and schools, with most of those infected were four years old. The British Medical Journal documented that it was because of a new strain of the scarlet fever virus.

Fortunately, due to advances in medical technology as well as better hygiene, scarlet fever is now treatable. Patients are to undergo 10 days of antibiotics in order to be relieved from the symptoms. This also means that fatalities coming from scarlet fever have become incredibly rare compared to how it was over a hundred years ago.