How is scarlet fever treated?
If your child’s doctor suspects scarlet fever or another type of strep infection, she’ll perform a throat culture to confirm the diagnosis. All this requires is a painless swab of your child’s throat to get a sample of the bacteria that are causing his symptoms. Then she’ll give your child a prescription for antibiotics. With treatment, recovery is fairly rapid, although the rash may linger for a few days. It may take several weeks for your child’s tonsils and swollen glands to return to normal. Left untreated, a strep infection can have serious complications, including abscesses on the tonsils. It could also develop into rheumatic fever, which can cause long-term heart problems. So make sure that your child begins taking the antibiotics right away and that he takes the full dose for as long as the doctor prescribes, so the infection doesn’t return. Although it’s possible to get strep throat multiple times, it’s unusual to get scarlet fever more than once.
