Scarlet Fever, again?!

Hi all!

I don't know if our area is unique, but we've had a lot of Scarlet Fever
this year -- I hadn't heard of anyone having it since a girl I babysat
got it in the 80's, but it's not quite the Velveteen Rabbit anymore, of
course, so it's more just annoying.

Sage had scarlet fever in October, and took Zithromax for it (she's
allergic to the -cillins.) About 10 days later she 'got' regular strep
(scarlet fever minus the rash) -- I think she never got over it to begin
with, personally, and went back on Zithromax for another course and had
been fine since.

Prior to this year (1st grade, which I've heard can make kids sicker
than normal because of the increased exposure), she'd only ever been on
antibiotics three times -- amoxicillin once at about age one, and
amoxicillin at age 2 when she had her allergic reaction, and then the
course of something else she had to finish off that sickness. That's
been it. So when she got 2 courses of antibiotics this school year, it
still didn't seem so bad to me.

Last week, we got a call that we'd been exposed to scarlet fever at a
playdate. Sage got sick with a slight fever, runny nose and sore throat
yesterday, and I took her into the ped. The rapid strep test was
negative, and the Dr. said her throat was red, and she had some yellow
drainage from her nose, so we might as well put her on Zithromax now --
that way, if she does have strep, she'll already be on meds. I took the
script, but we still haven't heard that the throat culture was positive,
and I don't feel right filling it and giving it to her.

On the one hand, she hasn't had many doses in her whole life, so it
might not make much difference, but then again, she has had so few
doses, why go haphazard now? And what kind of rationale is yellow
drainage for antibiotics? This was not our regular ped., 'cause I'd have
said something to ours, and I will appreciate not having to go back if
we need to get it filled. Oh, and Sage, today, is cranky and difficult,
and says she has a sore throat, but she has no fever, and no rash.

Any thoughts?

Tina.