SCARLET FEVER AT PA BOY SCOUT CAMP- HEALTH AUTHORITIES ON ALERT!

SCARLET FEVER AT PA BOY SCOUT CAMP
SCOUT RETURNS HOME WITH SCARLET FEVER AFTER WEEK AT HAWK MOUNTAIN SCOUT RESERVATION IN SCHUYLKILL HAVEN, PENNSYLVANIA
HEALTH AUTHORITIES ON ALERT

On Saturday, August 5, a New Jersey Boy Scout returned home from a week at camp with a red rash on his chest and abdomen. The family thought it might be prickly heat, treated it with a shower and powder.


The next day, Sunday, the rash was much better but the scout slept a lot and seemed tired. The family attributed this to him being at the camp for a week in a heatwave with temps over 100 degrees.


Monday the scout complained of an "itchy" throat.


Tuesday Morning, the scout awoke with a fever and stomach pains, prompting a visit to the family pediatrician, who diagnosed it as Scarlet Fever.

The local New Jersey Boy Scout Troop leaders, The Scout Camp at Hawk Mountain, the Schuylkill Haven Board of Health and the Pennsylvania Department of Health have all been notified.

The New Jersey Scout, age 12, is a white male child of fifth generation natural-born American citizens, is being treated with the antibiotic
Omnicef, 300 mg. twice a day and is expected to recover completely.

Scarlet Fever is HIGHLY contagious and there were upwards of one thousand (1,000) other Boy Scouts at the same camp from many different states during the week this infection took place.


A massive notification will probably be required to alert families and halt a potentially disasterous outbreak.

In 1946 when an outbreak of Scarlet fever hit the U.S., it was very serious and sometimes fatal because penicillin had not been invented yet. Today, the disease is easily treated.

Scarlet Fever results from a Strep infection and is highly contagious. The toxins released by the strep bacteria cause dark red blotches on the skin which begot the name Scarlet Fever.