Scarlet Fever

(asked on 4th December 2017) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the reasons for the recent rise in scarlet fever cases across England.


Answered by
Steve Brine Portrait
Steve Brine
This question was answered on 7th December 2017

Public Health England has undertaken detailed analysis of scarlet fever notifications in England and Wales, collected as part of the statutory notifications of infectious diseases, to understand the possible cause of the rise in scarlet fever cases. Assessment of strains collected from scarlet fever patients across England as part of this investigation ruled out the emergence of a new strain as the cause of this rise. Longitudinal assessment of notifications since 1911 identified periodic surges in disease but all of relatively smaller magnitude to that seen during this current resurgence. The assessment is available at:

http://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(17)30693-X/fulltext?elsca1=tlpr

The data collected has shown that cases reported during the rise are similar to previous cases in terms of seasonal pattern of occurrence, demographic characteristics, and frequency of hospitalisation.

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