Editing Scarlet fever (section)

==History==
It is unclear when a description of this disease was first recorded.<ref name=Rolleston1928>{{cite journal |author=Rolleston, J. D. |year=1928 |title=The History of Scarlet Fever |journal=[[British Medical Journal|BMJ]] |volume=2 |issue=3542 |pages=926–929 |doi=10.1136/bmj.2.3542.926 |pmid=20774279 |pmc=2456687|author-link=John Davy Rolleston }}</ref> [[Hippocrates]], writing around 400 BC, described the condition of a person with a reddened skin and fever.<ref name="Ferretti-2016">{{Cite journal|last1=Ferretti|first1=Joseph|last2=Kohler|first2=Werner|date=February 2016|title=History of Streptococcal Research|journal=Streptococcus Pyogenes: Basic Biology to Clinical Manifestations|pmid=26866232}}</ref>

The first unambiguous description of the disease in the medical literature appeared in the 1553 book ''De Tumoribus praeter Naturam'' by the [[Sicily|Sicilian]] anatomist and physician [[Giovanni Filippo Ingrassia]], where he referred to it as ''rossalia''. He also made a point to distinguish that this presentation had different characteristics from [[measles]].<ref name="Ferretti-2016" /> It was redescribed by [[Johann Weyer]] during an epidemic in lower Germany between 1564 and 1565; he referred to it as ''scarlatina anginosa''. The first unequivocal description of scarlet fever appeared in a book by Joannes Coyttarus of [[Poitiers]], {{lang|la|De febre purpura epidemiale et contagiosa libri duo}}, which was published in 1578 in Paris. [[Daniel Sennert]] of [[Wittenberg]] described the classical 'scarlatinal desquamation' in 1572 and was also the first to describe the early [[arthritis]], scarlatinal [[dropsy]], and [[ascites]] associated with the disease.{{citation needed|date=June 2021}}

In 1675 the term that has been commonly used to refer to scarlet fever, "scarlatina", was written by [[Thomas Sydenham]], an English physician.<ref name="Ferretti-2016" />

[[File:Bad Füssing - Friedhof Safferstetten - Kirche St. Andreas - Gedenktafel Familie Berger.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Bad Füssing]], Germany: Memorial to the local innkeeper's four children, who all died during a local wave of scarlet fever in 1858–59]]
In 1827, [[Richard Bright (physician)|Richard Bright]] was the first to recognize the involvement of the renal system in scarlet fever.{{citation needed|date=June 2021}}

The association between streptococci and disease was first described in 1874 by [[Theodor Billroth]], discussing people with skin infections.<ref name="Ferretti-2016"/> Billroth also coined the genus name ''Streptococcus''. In 1884 [[Friedrich Julius Rosenbach]] edited the name to its current one, ''Streptococcus pyogenes,'' after further looking at the bacteria in the skin lesions.<ref name="Ferretti-2016" /> The organism was first cultured in 1883 by the German surgeon [[Friedrich Fehleisen]] from [[erysipelas]] lesions.<ref>{{Citation |last=Spellerberg |first=Barbara |title=Laboratory Diagnosis of Streptococcus pyogenes (group A streptococci) |date=2016-02-10 |work=Streptococcus pyogenes : Basic Biology to Clinical Manifestations [Internet] |url=https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/books/NBK343617/ |access-date=2025-01-08 |publisher=University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center |language=en |pmid=26866238 |last2=Brandt |first2=Claudia}}</ref>

Also in 1884, the German physician [[Friedrich Loeffler]] was the first to show the presence of streptococci in the throats of people with scarlet fever. Because not all people with pharyngeal streptococci developed scarlet fever, these findings remained controversial for some time. The association between streptococci and scarlet fever was confirmed by [[Alphonse Dochez]] and [[George Frederick Dick|George]] and [[Gladys Dick]] in the early 1900s.<ref name="dochez1">{{cite journal | last=Heidelberger | first=M. | last2=Kneeland | first2=Y. | last3=Price | first3=K. M. | title=Alphonse Raymond Dochez, April 21, 1882 – June 30, 1964 | journal=Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences | volume=42 | date=1971 | pmid=11615463 | pages=29–46 | url=http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/dochez-alphonse.pdf | access-date=28 April 2019 | archive-date=24 February 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224215450/http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/dochez-alphonse.pdf | url-status=live }}</ref>

Also in 1884, the world's first convalescent home for people with scarlet fever was opened at Brockley Hill, Stanmore, founded by [[Mary Wardell]].<ref>{{Cite journal|date=1857|title=Scarlet Fever Convalescent Home |journal=British Medical Journal |language=English|volume=2 |issue=1229|pages=130|issn=0007-1447|oclc=801818999}}</ref>

[[Nil Filatov]] (in 1895) and Clement Dukes (in 1894) described an exanthematous disease which they thought was a form of [[rubella]], but in 1900, Dukes described it as a separate illness which came to be known as [[Dukes' disease]],<ref name="Duke original">{{cite journal|last=Dukes|first=Clement|title=On the confusion of two different diseases under the name of rubella (rose-rash).|journal=The Lancet|date=30 June 1900|volume=156|issue=4011|pages=89–95|doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(00)65681-7}}</ref> Filatov's disease, or fourth disease. However, in 1979, Keith Powell identified it as in fact the same illness as the form of scarlet fever which is caused by staphylococcal exotoxin and is known as [[staphylococcal scalded skin syndrome]].<ref name="pmid11214144">{{cite journal|last=Weisse|first=Martin E|s2cid=35896288|title=The fourth disease, 1900–2000|journal=The Lancet|date=31 December 2000|volume=357|issue=9252|pages=299–301|doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(00)03623-0|pmid=11214144}}</ref><ref name="pmid367152">{{cite journal|last=Powell|first=KR|title=Filatow-Dukes' disease. Epidermolytic toxin-producing staphylococci as the etiologic agent of the fourth childhood exanthem |journal= American Journal of Diseases of Children |date=January 1979|volume=133|issue=1|pages=88–91|pmid=367152|doi=10.1001/archpedi.1979.02130010094020}}</ref><ref name="pmid4252715">{{cite journal|last=Melish|first=ME|author2=Glasgow, LA|title=Staphylococcal scalded skin syndrome: the expanded clinical syndrome.|journal=The Journal of Pediatrics|date=June 1971|volume=78|issue=6|pages=958–67|pmid=4252715|url=http://www.jpeds.com/article/S0022-3476(71)80425-0/abstract|doi=10.1016/S0022-3476(71)80425-0|access-date=19 August 2013|archive-date=13 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191213003535/https://www.jpeds.com/article/S0022-3476(71)80425-0/abstract|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="pmid11441870">{{cite journal|last=Morens|first=David M|author2=Katz, Alan R|author3=Melish, Marian E|s2cid=35925579|title=The fourth disease, 1900–1881, RIP|journal=The Lancet|date=31 May 2001|volume=357|issue=9273|pages=2059|doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(00)05151-5|pmid=11441870|url=https://zenodo.org/record/1259775|access-date=27 June 2019|archive-date=26 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200126075437/https://zenodo.org/record/1259775|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Scarlet fever serum]] from horses' blood was used in the treatment of children beginning in 1900 and reduced mortality rates significantly.<ref name=horse>{{cite news|title=A Scarlet Fever Serum|newspaper=[[New York Times]]|date=3 November 1902|page=8|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1902/11/03/117983028.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225103712/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1902/11/03/117983028.pdf |archive-date=2021-02-25 |url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1906, Austrian [[pediatrician]] [[Clemens von Pirquet]] postulated that disease-causing immune complexes were responsible for the [[nephritis]] that followed scarlet fever.<ref name=Huber2006>{{cite journal |last=Huber |first=B. |s2cid=46144926 |year=2006 |title=100 years of allergy: Clemens von Pirquet—his idea of allergy and its immanent concept of disease |journal=Wiener klinische Wochenschrift |volume=118 |issue=19–20 |pages=573–579 |doi= 10.1007/s00508-006-0701-3|pmid=17136331 |url=http://doc.rero.ch/record/318231/files/508_2006_Article_701.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221010/http://doc.rero.ch/record/318231/files/508_2006_Article_701.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-10 |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[Bacteriophage]]s were discovered in 1915 by [[Frederick Twort]]. His work was overlooked and bacteriophages were later rediscovered by [[Felix d'Herelle]] in 1917. The specific association of scarlet fever with the group A streptococci had to await the development of [[Rebecca Lancefield]]'s streptococcal grouping scheme in the 1920s. George and Gladys Dick showed that cell-free filtrates could induce the erythematous reaction characteristic of scarlet fever, proving that this reaction was due to a toxin. Karelitz and Stempien discovered that extracts from human serum globulin and placental globulin can be used as lightening agents for scarlet fever and this was used later as the basis for the Dick test. The association of scarlet fever and bacteriophages was described in 1926 by Cantacuzène ([[Ioan Cantacuzino]]) and Bonciu.<ref name="Cantacuzène1926">{{cite journal |last1=Cantacuzène |first1=J. |last2=Bonciu |first2=O. |year=1926 |title=Modifications subies par des streptocoques d'origine non scarlatineuse au contact de produits scarlatineux filtrès|language=fr |journal=Comptes rendus de l'Académie des Sciences |volume=182 |pages=1185–1187 }}</ref>

There was a widespread epidemic of scarlet fever in 1922. Among the victims of this epidemic was [[Agathe Whitehead]].

An [[Scarlet fever serum|antitoxin for scarlet fever]] was developed in 1924. The discovery of penicillin and its subsequent widespread use significantly reduced the mortality of this once-feared disease. The first toxin which causes this disease was cloned and sequenced in 1986 by Weeks and Ferretti.<ref name="Weeks1986"/>

The incidence of scarlet fever was reported to be increasing in countries including England, Wales, South Korea, Vietnam, China, and Hong Kong in the 2010s; the cause had not been established as of 2018.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Lamagni|first1=Theresa|last2=Guy|first2=Rebecca|last3=Chand|first3=Meera|title=Resurgence of scarlet fever in England, 2014–16: a population-based surveillance study|journal=The Lancet Infectious Diseases|volume=18|issue=2|pages=180–187|publisher=The Lancet: Infectious Disease|pmid=29191628|doi=10.1016/S1473-3099(17)30693-X|year=2018|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Branswell|first1=Helen|title=Scarlet fever, a disease of yore, is making a comeback in parts of the world|url=https://www.statnews.com/2017/11/27/scarlet-fever-cases/|publisher=STAT|date=27 November 2017|access-date=28 November 2017|archive-date=28 November 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171128014832/https://www.statnews.com/2017/11/27/scarlet-fever-cases/|url-status=live}}</ref> Cases were also reported to be increasing after the easing of restrictions due to the [[COVID pandemic]] that started in 2020.<ref>{{cite news | title=Ashford bacteria outbreak: Primary school pupil dies with infection | website=BBC News | date=24 November 2022 | url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-surrey-63748975 | access-date=24 November 2022 | archive-date=24 November 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221124222411/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-surrey-63748975 | url-status=live }}</ref>

=== The Dick test ===
The Dick test, developed in 1924 by [[George F. Dick]] and [[Gladys Dick]], was used to identify those susceptible to scarlet fever.<ref name=Dick1924>{{cite journal |last1=Dick |first1=G. F. |first2=G. H. |last2=Dick |year=1924 |title=A skin test for susceptibility to scarlet fever |journal= Journal of the American Medical Association|volume=82 |issue=4 |pages=265–266 |doi=10.1001/jama.1924.02650300011003 }}</ref> The Dick test involved injecting a diluted strain of the streptococci known to cause scarlet fever; a reaction in the skin at the injection site identified people susceptible to developing scarlet fever. The reaction could be seen four hours after the injection, but was more noticeable after 24 hours. If no reaction was seen in the skin, then the person was assumed not to be at risk from the disease, having developed immunity to it.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Claude|first1=B|last2=McCartney|first2=J.E.|last3=McGarrity|first3=J.|date=January 1925|title=The Dick test for susceptibility to scarlet fever|journal=The Lancet|volume=205|issue=5292|pages=230–231|doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(00)56009-7}}</ref>

<gallery class="center" widths="140px" heights="200px">
File:Über die Nierenveränderungen bei Scharlach (1891).jpg|[[Otto Kalischer]] wrote a doctoral thesis on scarlet fever in 1891.
File:Poster - "Regulation of the Milk Supply" (FDA 178) (8211297109).jpg|A 1930s American poster attempting to curb the spread of such diseases as scarlet fever by regulating milk supply
File:Gladys Rowena Henry Dick (1881-1963).jpg|[[Gladys Henry Dick]] ''(pictured)'' and [[George Frederick Dick]] developed an [[antitoxin]] and vaccine for scarlet fever in 1924 which were later eclipsed by penicillin in the 1940s.
</gallery>