As of: February 12, 2024, 11:04 a.m
By: Natalie Hull-Deichsel
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Scarlet fever, measles, mumps, rubella and chickenpox are considered childhood diseases.
These diseases can cause complications and long-term consequences, especially for adults.
Infectious diseases such as scarlet fever, rubella, chickenpox or measles are often grouped together as so-called childhood diseases because they can spread quickly due to the high risk of infection, so that most people contract them as children.
However, adults can also experience these diseases, often with a more severe course, if they did not have it as a child or have been vaccinated against it.
Unlike diseases that usually heal well, such as head lice infestations, hand-foot-mouth disease or three-day fever, infections caused by supposed childhood illnesses can be serious for both children and adults and can be associated with complications or even long-term consequences.
The
Robert Koch Institute (RKI)
therefore regularly makes public recommendations.
Measles, mumps, rubella, chickenpox and scarlet fever: Severe cases are possible
Supposed childhood diseases such as chickenpox, measles and rubella are highly contagious, even for adults, and can be associated with complications and long-term consequences.
© Nina Janeckova/Imago
The best-known childhood diseases are measles, mumps, rubella, chickenpox and scarlet fever, which are each caused by a virus or bacteria such as streptococci and can spread suddenly.
Most are associated with sometimes high fever and flu-like symptoms as well as a painful and itchy skin rash - raised, red blisters appear in chickenpox, for example, in measles, large red spots appear, and scarlet fever is accompanied by red papules.
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Scarlet fever: Streptococcal infection can cause serious consequences such as meningitis and shock syndrome
Scarlet fever is considered a classic childhood disease and is one of the most common bacterial infectious diseases in this age group, according to the
Federal Center for Health Education (BZgA)
.
Scarlet fever is highly contagious and is caused by so-called A streptococci.
Typical symptoms include a severe sore throat and a widespread skin rash.
The scarlet fever rash, consisting of papules, begins on the upper body around the second day of illness and can spread over the entire body, excluding the mouth and chin area (so-called perioral pallor), the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet, according to the
Robert Koch Institute (RKI)
.
Additional symptoms also include the familiar raspberry tongue, which has a red coating and later peels.
The rash goes away after about six to nine days.
A few days later, the skin often peels off, especially on the palms of the hands and soles of the feet.
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With each infection, the bacteria develop different toxins, so-called toxins, which makes it possible to contract scarlet fever multiple times, especially in the colder season between October and March.
Immunity is only ever developed against the toxin that was prevalent during the infection.
If a scarlet fever infection is not treated as quickly as possible with antibiotics, it can lead to serious complications and long-term consequences, especially in adults.
These include, for example, chronic joint problems (polyarthritis), pneumonia, inflammation of the heart muscle (endocarditis), kidney damage, meningitis or rheumatic fever with a possible fatal outcome, as Dr.
Ursula Marschall, senior physician at
BARMER
, explains.
The dreaded streptococcal toxic shock syndrome (STSS) or toxic shock syndrome (TSS) can occur when group A streptococci or Staphylococcus aureus enter the bloodstream, cause blood poisoning and lead to multi-organ failure due to the toxins in the body.
According to the RKI
, over 30 percent of cases would result in death
.
The infection can spread from the inside out, causing gangrene and tissue death.
In most cases, the only way to save affected patients is to amputation the affected limbs.
Other triggers for toxic shock syndrome can include:
Using highly absorbent tampons that are not changed regularly
A surgical incision site that becomes infected
An infection after childbirth in women in utero
After a nose operation – with gauze bandages that catch the flow of secretions
In normally healthy people who have a skin infection caused by group A streptococci
Because of the rapid and potentially fatal progression, if toxic shock syndrome due to A streptococci develops, it is particularly important to carry out intensive medical treatment as early as possible.
Measles infection: What serious courses and long-term consequences are possible due to the virus
Since severe disease progression from measles is not uncommon, vaccination is now mandatory in Germany for all those who attend or work in public institutions such as daycare centers and schools.
Employees in refugee accommodation, doctor's offices and hospitals must also be demonstrably protected against the infectious disease in order to also protect others such as babies and small children under two years of age and people with weak immune systems.
Measles progresses in two phases of the disease: initially, those affected show fever, cold symptoms such as body aches and sometimes very light-sensitive eyes and even conjunctivitis, especially in adults.
In some cases, children and adults develop white deposits on the mucous membrane in the mouth, so-called “Koplik spots”.
The second phase of the disease usually only occurs after two to four days: the entire body - starting on the face and behind the ears - is covered with the typical skin rash, the bright red, non-itchy, merging spots.
Although measles can occur in children without severe symptoms, the risk of complications is particularly high in babies and adults.
Since measles viruses can severely weaken the immune system for months, secondary diseases such as middle ear and pneumonia are possible.
In the worst case, a dangerous encephalitis, post-infectious encephalitis, or measles SSPE, the so-called subacute sclerosing panencephalitis, can occur as a long-term consequence of measles, as the RKI warns.
Chickenpox: Highly contagious viral infection that is often more severe in adults
Chickenpox is an infectious disease that primarily affects children.
It is caused by the varicella-zoster virus, which is a form of herpes.
In newborns and people with weakened immune systems, serious illnesses can develop, sometimes with fatal outcomes.
However, a severe form of chickenpox can also occur in otherwise healthy children.
The importance of chickenpox arises primarily from the risk of possible complications, such as bacterial superinfection of skin inflammation, usually caused by streptococci.
A very serious complication is varicella pneumonia, a lung infection that is more common in adults than in children and can develop approximately three to five days after the onset of chickenpox.
Pregnant women are particularly at risk, according to the
Robert Koch Institute
.
Anyone who gets chickenpox can later develop what is known as shingles, which can also lead to serious complications such as encephalitis.
Rubella: Danger for women during pregnancy, serious complications possible in adults
Pregnant women are also at risk when it comes to possible long-term effects from the rubella virus.
The risk to the fetus is particularly high in the first weeks of pregnancy from a so-called rubella embryopathy.
This can result in a miscarriage or significant disabilities in the child.
The earlier a woman becomes infected with the rubella virus during pregnancy, the more serious the complications.
Ultimately, the only protection for the pregnant woman is antibodies that she was able to develop due to a rubella infection before pregnancy or through a vaccination.
At the same time, the risk of long-term consequences for the unborn child is minimized the more children and adults in the environment can no longer pass on the rubella virus - be it through an infection that has already been overcome or through a vaccination against rubella.
Other possible complications – especially in young people and adults – include:
bronchitis
Middle ear infection
Joint pain
Inflammation of the brain, called encephalitis
Inflammation of myocardium
Pericarditis
The rubella virus is transmitted via tiny droplets when speaking, coughing or direct contact with smear.
Mumps: An infection can cause infertility in men
Transmission of the mumps virus and infection occurs through droplet infection and direct contact with saliva, more rarely through objects contaminated with saliva.
The disease is initially noticeable through flu-like symptoms such as fatigue, loss of appetite, headaches, body aches and fever, which is followed by very painful, inflammatory swelling of the parotid glands - on one or both sides.
According to the
Robert Koch Institute
, a number of complications can occur as a result of the disease , which become more common with increasing age.
A disease of the brain and central nervous system (CNS), which affects male sufferers more often than female patients, is one of the most common complications after inflammation of the salivary glands.
A further complication occurs in adolescent or adult men: 15 to 30 percent of those affected develop an infection of the testicles (orchitis), which in rare cases can also lead to persistent infertility.
In women, on the other hand, mumps infection can cause inflammation of the mammary glands (mastitis) in around 30 percent of cases, or inflammation of the ovaries (oophoritis) in around five percent of cases.
Approximately four percent of patients subsequently develop pancreatic disease (pancreatitis), kidney inflammation (nephritis) or myocarditis.
Mumps encephalitis can be fatal in 1.5 percent of cases.
This article only contains general information on the respective health topic and is therefore not intended for self-diagnosis, treatment or medication. It in no way replaces a visit to the doctor. Our editorial team is not allowed to answer individual questions about medical conditions.