Scarlet fever

My mother was a State Registered Fever Nurse in the 40s and 50s and worked in a Fever Hospital. These were gradually demolished as the incident of fevers dropped with the advent of vaccines, sulphonamides and antibiotics, etc.. These poor children and adults indeed had to be barrier nursed.

It's a streptococcal infection and before the days of antibiotics it was very serious. A lesser form of the infection is scarlatina which both of my sons had when they were young - very spotty and bad sore throat. Antibiotics are the only solution. A child who keeps on getting such infections should surely be seeing an ENT consultant.

ditto petra I was in Daventry isolation hospital in 1945 and our house was fumigated. I remember very clearly taking myself off to bed and "seeing gnomes hacking through the ceiling" also, being put into the ambulance and putting my tongue out as the nurse (in a mask) sat with me. I felt deeply ashamed that I had done such a thing.

Petra given that it is a bacterial infection they are very, very lucky to have antibiotics. It was the lack of antibiotics in the 30s and 40s that meant that my father had scarlet fever, which developed into rheumatic fever which so damaged his heart that he died at 34.
In the 30s and 40s they took them into isolation hospitals in the hope that they would not infect the rest of the family. It was little understood at the time. It is not a viral disease like measles or chicken pox.
It starts with a streptococcal sore throat (not a viral sore throat) - if the strep infection spreads from there through the whole body then you get the rash and a diagnosis of "scarlet fever". Nasty.

My father told me that virtually the whole school was admitted to the isolation hospital when he was about 11.
I'm surprised that a child has had it repeatedly because I'd have thought he should have built immunity to a degree. Repeated antibiotics suggests either they weren't prescribed the correct one or the course wasn't long enough or completed?
I'd certainly be wanting a consultant opinion after 2 or 3 infections let alone more!

I had scarlet fever when I was about 8. There was an epidemic and I had to be nursed at home as the wards were full. I can still remember the district nurse coming each day to give me an injection, I was ill for months and missed a lot of school.

I had scarlet fever when I was five and was isolated in one room. After the infection had passed the room was fumigated and all my toys and books were burnt on the coal fire we had in the room. In the year I was five and had just started school I caught chicken pox, measles and scarlet fever so my attendance was extremely poor. The measles left me with ear problems which led to long absences too.

I'm another one who had scarlet fever. I was 4 and mum had just given birth to my younger sister, at home. The doctor said I'd to go into hospital but mum argued I needed to be at home so I wouldn't feel the new baby had pushed me out. My bed was brought down into the small back sitting room and grannie arrived to help. Mum agreed not to come into the room and I wasn't to leave it. Gran slept on a chair in the room with me. I remember being very ill and remain grateful to mum for standing her ground.

I don't know how long I was in bed for, but I do know it was a long time. Evidently, my recovery began at 3am when I woke up and said I was hungry. Mum and dad made me exactly what I asked for, meat and chips. How lucky I was to have both my parents excited to make me something to eat. I also remember eating a lot of "pobbs" - white buttered bread, topped with sugar and warm milk. Can you imagine! I was so skinny and weak I'm sure they were doing their best to fatten me up.

Now you mention it, I remember stuff being burnt.

You might not want to plod through all the 6 pages of this link, but I appear on page 5:
www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=308016.0
It gives an interesting history of one aspect of medical care in the early 19C ie scarlet fever.

I had it when I was7, Mum gave me a china doll to keep me company because she thought it could be washed and come home . I had my long plaits cut to the scalp , the doll was given to a younger child who broke the head on the bars of the cot . I was regarded as trouble because I couldn't keep the porridge down and was let lie in the result . when I got home I couldn't walk because I was kept in bed , I missed 3 months of school , never learnt above my 5times tables and was slapped for missing my spellings , this was in the early 40s . No one but the Priest was allowed to visit me and he didn't recognise me without my plaits . My youngest Daughter had scarlet fever and had antibiotics and was better in a week , I have heard of some children having it recently but only once

Iam64 I loved having "pobbs" when I was little. I think we were just hard up then.

aggie that's draconian and so sad, thank goodness for antibiotics.

Correction to my post - should be "early 1900s"

Another disease rife at the time was diphtheria. That could strike down a healthy child and death would follow in hours.

As you said loopy thank goodness for antibiotics.

I had "pobbs" too! Even the dog got pobbs when he was off colour.

I think we called pobbs bread and milk. I hated it but my mum loved to eat it sitting in front of an open fire. Is pobbs a local name - I've never heard it before.

I didn't have Scarlet Fever but I did have Meningitis when I was 11 and was in an isolation hospital for 5 weeks. Anyone coming to visit me had to wear a mask and a gown. I thought I was really infectious but a nurse told me it was to protect me from outside germs.

I was so glad to see that Meningitis is one of the diseases children are vaccinated against these days, also Scarlet Fever and Diphtheria.

When I was in the hospital, the flat where my parents lived was fumigated much to the embarrassment of my poor mother. I had two dolls with me in the hospital and their clothes had to be burned - I'm sure it wasn't really necessary.

And vaccination Anya The vaccinations against polio, diphtheria, whooping cough that the post war generation are the main reason why the isolation hospitals closed. Improved housing conditions may have contributed to the drop in scarlet fever. I remember it was talked about when I was a child (on the list of childhood ailments one might have) but I never knew anyone who had it.
The postwar generation had a much better start in life than the generation which went through childhood in the war. They did not have vaccinations, had a limited diet and often spent their nights in air raid shelters for years.

I did mention vaccines in my previous post Jess

yes i was agreeing

On the subject of vaccines - thank heavens for Doctor Salk. There was a programme about him on TV. It showed the way he persisted with trials for a Polio vaccine and successfully developed one. Because of his stoic work, polio has now been eradicated on this planet.

I remember polio too well. In fact when I had meningitus the doctors thought at first that it was Polio. I was in a fever hospital and that was in 1958. I had 14 lumber punctures which were awful to make sure the infection had gone.

I can't understand parents who are against vaccines. In fact my own father was but mum made sure I had all the post war inoculations. When it came to the sugar lump vaccine for polio (1962?) dad protested again. He had the crazy idea that the first polio injection given in 1957 had caused me to have meningitis.

I was a teenager by then and mum was so fed up with him that I remember her shouting - the girl is old enough now to make her own mind up. I lined up with all the others and had the polio vaccine and the one for TB.

I do remember a family in my area having Scarlet Fever and they were terribly ill. I remember them leaning out of the window of their house and screaming and crying.

'Pobbs' - I remember that as an alternative name for bread and milk, hot and sweet... We lived in North London - don't know if that gives a clue to whether or no the name was regional.

I lived in Manchester when I had 'pobbs', so not regional.

Our pobbs were eaten in east Lancashire, one of the bits that is now called Gtr Manchester.

On the subject of inoculations I share the concern expressed by others about parents who refuse to have their children vaccinated. Diptherea, measles, whooping cough, polio all illnesses that could kill or maim. Some parents don't keep appointments for immunisations, others oppose them because they fear side effects. Crazy!