Staphylococcal scarlet fever

A rare bacterial infectious disease most prominently characterized by a red, sandpaper-like rash, a strawberry-like tongue, and a flushed face with perioral pallor. Other clinical symptoms include pharyngitis, tonsillitis, fever, headaches, and swollen lymph nodes. Potential complications are sinusitis, pneumonia, rheumatic fever, glomerulonephritis, and endocarditis, among others. The disease is caused by infection with toxin producing strains of <i>Streptococcus pyogenes</i> and can affect people of any age, although it is most common in children.