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Show Your Doctor Says . . . The following U one of a t tries f article ar-ticle wriuen by m embcrt of the Utah Slut Medical AtModation and pubiithed in cooperation with your local newspaper. Thete article arc scheduled to appear every other week through omi the year in an effort to better acquaint you with problem of health, and designed to improve the well-being of the people of Utah. Scarlet Fever nma precautions for a streptococcal strepto-coccal infection of the throat as for scarlet fever should be taken in regard to spread of the disease. A large number of effective agents for treatment of streptococcal strep-tococcal disease are now available. avail-able. The choice of the indlvidua! drug and procedures to be used would depend on the particular situation involved. And you should consult your M.D. physician. Before the development ol modem drugs, scarlet fever in a family resulted in quarantine of the patient and many or all of the members of the family. Since adequate treatment now will eradicate most of the germs from the throats of Infected persons within a few days, the prolonged periods of quarantine are no longer long-er necessary. It is, however, very Important to isolate the infected person, whether they have scarlet fever or a streptococcal sore throat, in order to protect other members of the family and the community. Scarlet fever, sometimes known as scarlatina, is a well known infectious in-fectious disease of children and young adults characterized by fever, sore throat, and rash. The Illness usually lasts from a few days to a week and is ordinarily mild. However, because of the occasional oc-casional occurrence of more severe complications such as infection of the ears, acute rheumatic fever, and inflammation of the kidney, it must be listed as one of the more severe diseases of childhood. The cause of the disease is a germ known as the Beta-hemo-lytic Streptococcus. This is a germ that is well known for the many different types of disease which it may cause, among them the "strep sore throat" and infections of the skin such as pimples and boils, tt is the germ which is most often responsible for the rapidly developing Infection of tissues (cellulitis) with accompanying accom-panying "blood poisoning." The important part of the infection in-fection in scarlet fever is usually the Infection of the throat. It is an interesting fact that several persons may be infected with exactly ex-actly the same germ in their throats; some will have the accompanying ac-companying rash which therefore designates the disease as scarlet fever, whereas others will have the throat infection without the rash in which case it will be called a streptococcal infection of the throat. The difference in the two situations is apparently that the persons who nave the rash have no immunity to this particular poison or toxin which is made by the germ and therefore develop a rash. The persons who have the sore throat without the rash have apparently had previous infection with a Strepticoccus which is a producer of this particular toxin and have developed immunity to i t; they therefore do not have the i rash. For the sake of those persons per-sons who arc infected and for the sake of the family and the rest if the community, it is important o recognize that exactly the mere is no specific immunization immuniza-tion which will prevent the development de-velopment of streptococcal infections, infec-tions, although there has been some use of an immunization which will protect the child from the effects of the toxin produced by this organism and thus will keep the child from having the rash of scarlet fever. - One of the most important measures for protection of children chil-dren from streptococcal infections is to keep them from having contact con-tact with acutely ill persons. For isolation purposes, the infections of scarlet fever and streptococcal sore throat should be considered in exactly the same light. Any person with streptococcal sore throat or scarlet fever should be isolated from close contact with other persons as nearly as possible pos-sible during the acute stage of the illness. This infection is transmitted trans-mitted primarily by direct or close contact with the patient or with the excretions from his nose and throat. All materials which have been in contact with infected patients should be cleansed with soap and water, should be boiled if possible, or should be exposed to sunlight for a period of several hours. Thorough cleaning of the room in which an infected patient has been confined is highly desir- able at the end of the illness. It is not necessary to -use strong disinfectants dis-infectants provided there has been Liberal use of soap and water for washable surfaces and adequate exposure to fresh air and sunlight. |