That time my mom had scarlet fever

Before the advent of antibiotics like penicillin, a strep throat infection could lead to scarlet fever. When my mother was a girl, she came down with scarlet fever when she was at school. They made her go home and quarantine until she got better. But then her older brother got it and her younger sister after that. The whole household had to be under quarantine until the infections stopped.

The family was in quarantine for about two weeks. During this time they were not allowed to leave their farm and my mother’s grandfather brought them groceries. My grandfather kept dairy cows and would usually sell the cream they separated from the milk. They were not allowed to sell their cream while under quarantine so my mother told me they gave it to the hogs. When she returned to school she found red spots on her school books from some treatment that had been done to them.