Scarlet fever, caused by Group A streptococcal bacteria, was a common disease at one time, especially in children. Named for the flushing of the face that it causes, it is characterized by a sore throat, chills, fever, headache, vomiting, rapid pulse, red rash, and an inflamed or "strawberry" tongue. Scarlet fever (sometimes called scarlatina) was named by Thomas Sydenham, an English physician who was known as the "English Hippocrates." From the time he began his medical career in 1656, Sydenham kept thorough records of patients. Astute observations led him to conclude that there were differences between measles and scarlet fever which up until that time were thought to be the same disease. He named scarlet fever for its most distinguishing characteristics.

In the early twentieth century, Alphonse Dochez, a pioneer in the field of respiratory diseases, studied many cases of scarlet fever as a doctor during World...