THE OCCURRENCE OF STAPHYLOCOCCUS AUREUS INFECTION WITH A SCARLATINIFORM RASH

Abstract

Considerable advance has been made in the last few years in the diagnosis of scarlet fever. While the typical case has seldom confused the experienced clinician, the diagnosis of many borderline cases has been difficult. These atypical exanthems have fallen into two groups. The first group comprises cases resembling scarlatina in many respects yet with sufficient deviation from the usual signs and symptoms to render the diagnosis questionable. Filatow 1 and Dukes 2 have described epidemics of such peculiar exanthems. Sporadic instances of infection also occur. The second group includes the exanthems associated with surgical infections. Malfatti 3 described puerperal scarlatina in 1801, and Paget 4 noted in 1864 that scarlet fever might accompany the infection of wounds. Since the etiology of scarlet fever has been established, we know that puerperal and surgical scarlatina occur; but clinical diagnosis is difficult unless the infection follows intimate contact with known cases of