Parents Concerned with Great Similarity of Scarlet Fever and Meningitis: Know the Difference

There has been an increase of scarlet fever cases in the United Kingdom for the past weeks. But the most shocking were those children who got killed because they were actually suffering from meningitis.

The Daily Star reported that parents with kids who died because of meningitis claimed that the symptoms were very much the same as scarlet fever. They said that their children also had rashes and very big fever.

Ashley Centre Surgery doctor Ivan Ratnayake advised parents that if they see a rash in their kids, they should not immediately conclude that it is scarlet fever. He explained that there is a possibility that young ones could also be suffering from meningitis when they have rashes.

The medical specialist said meningitis could be fatal to children. "The rash seen with scarlet fever can mimic that of meningitis—and it's hard to diagnose over the phone," Ratnayake said.

He furthered that if kids have these symptoms, parents should have them immediately checked. "I wouldn't even discourage them to go to the hospital if they can't be seen by a GP immediately—you want to get your child looked at as soon as possible," he added.

Ratnayake also said in a Western Daily Press report that a person with no background on medicine and infectious diseases cannot be able to tell the difference between scarlet fever and meningitis.

For her part, Public Health England's Theresa Lamagni said cases of scarlet fever among kids has been on the rise since 2014. "Increasing numbers are currently being seen in line with the usual seasonal pattern, where we typically see increasing activity over the course of the winter and spring," she added.

According to BabyCentre, a child who has scarlet fever also experiences headache, nausea, vomiting and tiredness. Rashes usually appear in 12 to 48 hours and would, most of the time, start from the chest and stomach area then spread to the rest of the body.

One way to check if it is really scarlet fever is to press a drinking glass on the skin. If it turns white while you exert pressure, that would be scarlet fever but if it doesn't then a child could be suffering from meningitis.