One child dies of scarlet fever, ANEP launches program; 5 confirmed cases

A child Five-year-old died in October scarlet fever. The minor attended School 60 in the Buceo community. The discovery of the disease has put health systems on alert.

The National Administration of Public Education (ANEP) initiated a protocol for these cases and notified the Ministry of Public Health as well as inspectors and supervisors.

Technical inspector Ivonne Constantino confirmed that, in addition to the dead, five cases of scarlet fever had been recorded in Montevideo since the beginning of October. The five individuals attended four different schools, with the child attending two of them. “It’s not that we have an epidemiological outbreak in one class or one institution,” he said.

Measures taken at education centers with confirmed cases include closure, disinfection and cleaning of spaces, and ventilation.

The inspector added that scarlet fever cases had been recorded in different centers in previous years. “Apart from this case, the rest of the situation remains normal for what happens at this time of year,” Constantine concluded.

Alvaro Gagliana, epidemiologist and director of the Pereira Russell Hospital, spoke about the characteristics of the disease.

“Strep throat is a disease characterized by an acute, sudden onset of sore throat, often accompanied by a fever, although it is not required. In addition to this, when we talk about scarlet fever, there are You get a rash, which is very characteristic and we see it all year round,” the doctor said of some of the symptoms of the disease.

Experts recommend that if you experience symptoms of sore throat, headache and fever, seek medical attention immediately and do not try to reduce fever with medications. To distinguish it from other viral respiratory infections, infectious disease experts explained that this case had no symptoms of runny nose or cough other than a rash.

He said: “In exceptional circumstances we see severe cases, and we’ve had several severe cases this year caused by Streptococcus pyogenes or group A Streptococcus, which is a very harmful bacteria and from time to time we have severe cases. A small spike in infection.”

This infection is spread through saliva droplets and usually occurs easily in children. Treatment is with antibiotics.

“This pathogen can also eventually produce infections in other parts of the body,” he added.