What is Scarlet Fever?

What happens during scarlet fever and what damage does it do later?

• Just reading about Jean Harlow and I find it interesting that part of her death was because she had scarlet fever earlier in life. But she could have lived if medicine had been better in 1937.

• Answer:

  Alexa, what you read and quote is accurate. Scarlet fever is one possible complication of an inadequately treated beta-hemolytic Streptococcus throat infection. It often resulted in severe damage to the heart mitral valve when the Strep throat was or is not adequately treated in the first 10 days of the Strep throat infection. It is easily prevented when the Strep throat is treated with the antibiotic called penicillin (or another penicillin-family type drug). The heart damage leads to the death. In 1937 the world had not yet discovered penicillin which was discovered and first used in about 1944 by Dr. Alexander Fleming and is still used. Penicillin was also the first non-sulfur type drug effective to cure venereal diseases of gonorrhea and syphilis.