I'm having a hard time determining if F has scarlet fever or heat rash (yeah I should know this by now) I can't seem to find decent pictures of either that aren't "extreme" type cases. His skin isn't as 'prickly' as the heat rash that I have had but it's not as red as I'd expect scarlet fever to be. He's a very pale skinned child so I would think the sun burn look SF is supposed to have would be rather apparent in him.

also, I'm having a hard time finding research on SF and non-allopathic treatment. Anyone have any good links?

thx

you might pm Snugglbond (Tracey). Her middle son had it a few years back & they used no antibiotics.

My dd got scarlet fever EVERY time she had strep throat.

Our first clue of strep is always a tummy ache...then followed by a fine (can't really see it) sandpapery rash. That's what it always was for my dd.

Hope your little one feels better soon!! :)

http://www.naaritoday.com/health/alternativetherapies/scralet.html

My daughter (named Scarlet, ironically) had scarlet fever when she was 10 months old. We treated it homeopathically with Belladonna 30c. We gave her 1 dose every 20 minutes for an hour (as per our naturopath's recommendation). Then she fell asleep and her fever subsided. Thereafter, we gave her 3 doses a day. It was completely gone (the rash and the strep) in 3 days.

HTH,

Vanessa
www.herbsofgrace.com

I had Scarlet Fever as a kid. I remember having a very bad sore throat. My skin turned scarlet red and peeled off. I felt like I had a really bad flu.

I, of course, took antibiotics. Doctors used to give them to us for *everything* back then.

I don't remember much else. Except that for years afterwards my immune system was in bad shape and I got sick all the time.

I sure hope F is feeling better soon.

thanks everyone! I've determined the rash is indeed a heat rash, a result of his recent high fever which broke last night and the rash has nearly disappeared though the side he's laying on gets red until he's been up for a few minutes. I'll still look into the info on scarlet fever though so I'm a bit prepared JIC. Thanks!! And yep he's feeling TONS better now

My dd just had scarlet fever. She is 4. She had a very high 105 temp for 2 days and then seemed fine until the rash broke out a day later. It started on the torso front and back and spread out to the knees and to the wrists. All the while she had a very bad sore throat and not eating. We elected to do antibiotics, which we never do unless we have no choice, for a couple of reasons. She was very sick, very little (30 lbs and had lost 2 lbs in the past 3 days), and that there is a very real risk of it turning into rhumatic fever that causes heart defects. I have friends who have tried to deal with it homeopathicly with very poor results. I would only trust an strep diagnosis from a culture, there are many viruses that end with a rash and mimic strep.

Liz Hayashi