Scarlet Fever: The Rash That Kills

What is Scarlet Fever?

We have all heard of Scarlet Fever before, but many of us don't know what it is or how deadly it is. Scarlet fever is a blanching rash that is sometimes referred to as a sandpaper rash. In 1578, Jean Cottyar gave the first definitive description of scarlet fever in France as a "general weariness, headache, redness of the eyes, sore throat, and fever" (1). It took us many more years to realize that Scarlet fever can cause a severe rash anywhere on the body. If you were to get Scarlet Fever, the worst place to have it would be inside your mouth. This would make it increasingly hard to eat, drink, or breathe. If it is in your throat, it is appropriate to look at Scarlet fever as a more severe form of strep throat.

An Example of Scarlet fever on the body of children(2)

How was Scarlet Fever Treated?

If you were to get Scarlet fever today, you wouldn't have much to worry about, assuming you visit your doctor. But this was not the case during the 1800s. In the 1800s, the human race did not have nearly as much medicine and knowledge as today. It is hard to believe how deadly this disease was during the 1800s because it mainly affected children, and many of those children did not live past 48 hours of showing symptoms. That being said, the best thing that was done during this time was to isolate the person who had Scarlet Fever and hope that they made it through (4). There were types of technology that people would wear, like masks, to try and take care of the sick patient, but most of the time, people tended to stay away from those with Scarlet fever because it was viewed as a death sentence to many. It is essential to know that during this time, people did not realize that there were bacteria in the air, so they would wear face coverings with almost no scientific knowledge of why they were wearing them.

A picture of a mother comforting her dying three year old from this horrible disease (5)

   

Scarlet Fever in Frankenstein

Scarlet Fever was introduced in Volume 1, Chapter 3 when Elizabeth gets it and then passes it to Victor's mother. Although germs and bacteria were not discovered during this time, everyone understood that if you got close to the person with the disease, there was a high chance of contracting it. Elizabeth argued with Victor's mother for her not to care for her in fear that she would get it. Victor's mother indeed got the disease, and oddly enough, a condition that usually kills children sparred Elizabeth and took the life of Victor's mother. We can see how severe this disease was because they only mentioned isolation in the text to stop the spread of the disease possibly, but there was no cure. We can assume that more was done because it says Victor's mother was nursing Elizabeth back to health, but it doesn't go into specifics. When Frankenstein was written, Scarlet Fever was a worldwide pandemic killing children at an alarming rate. It is interesting because Scarlet Fever significantly affects children, and with today's COVID-19 pandemic, the elderly are greatly affected. Shelley took the Scarlet Fever pandemic and had it affect her world within Frankenstein.

Work Cited

(1) Pardo, Salvatore. “Scarlet Fever.” StatPearls [Internet]., U.S. National Library of Medicine, 17 Jan. 2022, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK507889/.

(2) Science Photo Library, Childhood diseases 19th Century illustration, https://www.sciencephoto.com/media/862764/view/childhood-diseases-19th-century-illustration

(3) Mandal, D. A. (2019, June 5). What is scarlet fever? News. Retrieved March 9, 2022, from https://www.news-medical.net/health/What-is-Scarlet-fever.aspx#:~:text=Scarlet%20fever%20was%20common%20and,over%20the%20last%2010%20years.

(4) Glenn Fay, J. (2020, April 13). The heartbreaking childhood plagues of the 1700s and 1800s. Medium. Retrieved March 9, 2022, from https://glennfay.medium.com/the-heartbreaking-childhood-plagues-of-the-1700s-and-1800s-b2692d0594f5

(5) Scarlet fever scourge of the 19th century: Castle Bromwich Graveyard. Castle Bromwich Graveyard Enhancing Communities, Enhancing Lives. (2019, December 6). Retrieved March 24, 2022, from https://castlebromwichgraveyard.co.uk/scarlet-fever-scourge-of-the-19th-century/