Forget coronavirus, scarlet fever is resurging

NIRMAL YESODA

As the coronavirus pandemic is wreaking havoc in all nooks of the world, scientists have warned that Scarlet fever is making a comeback. It should be noted that thousands of children were killed due to Scarlet fever in the 19th century, and most of the victims were aged between 5 and 15. However, after the advent of effective antibiotics, this disease slowly died out from the planet.

And now, a new study carried out by researchers at the University of Queensland (UQ) has suggested that the disease is resurging, as Streptococcus pyogenes bacteria had been infected by another virus. The study team was busy studying this disease for the past ten years after small outbreaks were reported in Asia and the UK in 2011 and 2014 respectively.

Researchers noted that there was a 68 percent rise in scarlet fever cases in the UK from 2014.

“This global re-emergence of scarlet fever has caused a more than five-fold increase in disease rate and more than 600,000 cases around the world,” said Stephen Brouwer, a researcher at UQ.

Scientists believe that the new mutation of Scarlet virus bacteria could turn deadly, as traditional antibiotic treatment may not work against this new strain.

According to researchers, the coronavirus lockdown measures are actually hindering the spread of Scarlet fever too. Researchers also suggest that the cases of Scarlet fever will rise drastically once social distancing measures get relaxed.