Editing Scarlet fever (section)

==Prevention==
One method is long-term use of antibiotics to prevent future group A streptococcal infections. This method is only indicated for people who have had complications like recurrent attacks of acute rheumatic fever or rheumatic heart disease. Antibiotics are limited in their ability to prevent these infections since there are a variety of subtypes of group A streptococci that can cause the infection.<ref name="Nelson2016" />

Although there are currently no vaccines available, the vaccine approach has a greater likelihood of effectively preventing group A streptococcal infections in the future because vaccine formulations can target multiple subtypes of the bacteria.<ref name="Nelson2016" /> A vaccine developed by George and Gladys Dick in 1924 was discontinued{{when|date=August 2021}} due to poor efficacy and the introduction of antibiotics. Difficulties in vaccine development include the considerable strain variety of group A streptococci present in the environment and the amount of time and number of people needed for appropriate trials for safety and efficacy of any potential vaccine.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.who.int/vaccine_research/diseases/soa_bacterial/en/index3.html|title=Initiative for Vaccine Research (IVR)—Group A Streptococcus|publisher=World Health Organization |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120513105141/http://www.who.int/vaccine_research/diseases/soa_bacterial/en/index3.html|archive-date=13 May 2012|url-status=dead|access-date=15 June 2012}}</ref> There have been several attempts to create a vaccine in the past few decades. These vaccines, which are still in the development phase, expose the person to proteins present on the surface of the group A streptococci to activate an immune response that will prepare the person to fight and prevent future infections.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Chih-Feng|first1=Kuo|last2=Tsao|first2=Nina|last3=I-Chen|first3=Hsieh|last4=Yee-Shin|first4=Lin|last5=Jiunn-Jong|first5=Wu|last6=Yu-Ting|first6=Hung|date=March 2017|title=Immunization with a streptococcal multiple-epitope recombinant protein protects mice against invasive group A streptococcal infection|journal=PLOS ONE|volume=12|issue=3|pages=e0174464|doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0174464|pmid=28355251|pmc=5371370|bibcode=2017PLoSO..1274464K|doi-access=free}}</ref>

There used to be a diphtheria scarlet fever vaccine.<ref>{{cite book | title=Rudolf Franck – Moderne Therapie in Innerer Medizin und Allgemeinpraxis – Ein Handbuch der Medikamentösen, Physikalischen und Diätetischen Behandlungsweisen der Letzten Jahre | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H6rwBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA564 | publisher=Springer Verlag | access-date=9 January 2017 | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170109092636/https://books.google.com/books?id=H6rwBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA564 | archive-date=9 January 2017 | isbn=9783662221860 | date=13 August 2013 }}</ref> It was, however, found not to be effective.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Ellis|first1=Ronald W.|last2=Brodeur|first2=Bernard R.|title=New Bacterial Vaccines|date=2012|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=9781461500537|page=158|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sTfVBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA158|language=en|url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170109184906/https://books.google.com/books?id=sTfVBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA158 |archive-date=9 January 2017}}</ref> This product was discontinued by the end of World War II.{{citation needed|date=June 2021}}