Nursery children treated for scarlet fever

Published on Thursday 22 March 2007 12:04

TWO children at an Edinburgh nursery school are being treated for scarlet fever.

Forthview Nursery in West Pilton was closed yesterday, but the city council insisted it was not connected to the outbreak.

A spokeswoman said the doors had been shut for the day because of staff shortages. However, she confirmed that two children had contracted scarlet fever and were being kept at home until they had got over the disease.

"There have been children off school," she said. "They will stay away from the nursery until they are better.

"However, that has nothing to do with the nursery being closed, that is down to staff shortages."

Nowadays, scarlet fever is a relatively harmless bacterial infection caused by haemolytic streptococci, which causes children to break out in a scarlet rash, and suffer from a sore throat and swollen glands.

Most people recover in four to five days, but in the 19th century scarlet fever was a feared disease, causing devastating pandemics and high mortality.

Young children with scarlet fever were kept in isolation hospitals for weeks.