Scarlet

(skar' -let). A highly chromatic and brilliant-red color. S. -faced, having a very red face. S. Fever, an acute, specific, epidemic, contagious disease, characterized by a scarlet flush spreading progre ively from the face over the body, ending on about the seventh day in desquamation of the cuticle. The fever is not high in the simple cases, but may rise to a very high point in the graver cases. The tongue is the characteristic " strawberry tongue," with prominent papillae, and there is a red, swollen, and inflamed condition of the tonsils, uvula, and soft palate, upon which a soft, white film may be deposited. Acute nephritis and suppurative otitis are frequent complications or sequelae. In a small proportion of the cases the patient will undergo a relapse, and pa through a second attack of the disease of varying severity. One attack of the disease protects against a second attack, but not quite to the same extent as in measles. The disease is most frequent in children near the age of five years, and after this period the liability to contract the disease diminishes rapidly. See Exanthemata, Table of. S. Ocher. Same as Ocher.