SCARLET FEVER. Synonyms.—Scarlatina; Scarlet Rash. Definition ...

diphtheria. The deeper tissues become infiltrated, and a foul phagedenic
ulceration is seen. The nares becomes involved, and an acrid secretion is
discharged.
As the sepsis increases, a cellulitis develops, the cervical glands enlarge,
the neck becomes greatly swollen, extending in some cases beyond the
ears. The eyes are glued together with a brownish secretion, while the
ears discharge the same characteristic material. The system seems to
have more of the poison than it can carry, and the overflow escapes by
way of the orifices.
The cervical glands suppurate, and a disgusting, pultaceous abscess is
the result. The extremities become cold, the pulse is small, weak, and
rapid, the mind is dull, coma comes on, and the child dies from toxemia.
The eruption, when it makes its appearance, is of a dull, dusky red color.
Sometimes it appears as petechise, which, enlarging, form ecchymotic
patches. At other times it appears the second or third day, only to
remain a few hours, when there is a retrocession of the eruption.
Desquamation.—From six to ten days after the eruption first makes
its appearance, desquamation begins. The eruption fades, the skin
becomes dry and constricted and is shed in the form of dry, bran-like
scales. Sometimes it comes off in large flakes or even in ribbon-like strips
a foot or more in length, and in rare cases, where the epidermis is thick,
like on the hand or foot, a complete cast of the member is shed.
Desquamation lasts from ten days to ten weeks.
Complications.—In scarlet fever, diphtheria, measles, and influenza,
the middle ear is often affected by extension through the Eustachian
tubes and the process may also affect the labyrinth.
In quite a number of cases the labyrinth is affected directly by the
systemic poison, the middle ear escaping any morbid inflammation
whatever. (Foltz.)
Respiratory Apparatus.—The inflammation may pass from the throat to
adjacent parts of the respiratory apparatus, and bronchitis or bronchopenumonia
may render the disease still more serious. Nephritis is a very
common complication, though more frequently it is one of the sequelae.
The Eclectic Practice of Medicine - PART I - Infectious Diseases - Page 131