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Scarlet fever ravaged ancient Rome, killing thousands. In 455, Orae Favianae was so devastated by the disease
 that they had to change the name to Vienna. 


In 1863, 30,000 people died during a scarlet fever outbreak in England and three years later, it terrorized New
 York. Crossing socio-economic barriers, it killed thousands of poor colonists in Massachusetts in 1735 and
 also sent composer Johann Strauss waltzing to his grave in 1849. 


So you can imagine how some parents reacted when kids at a Brooklyn school brought home this note the other
 day: "THERE IS A CASE OF Scarlet Fever IN YOUR CHILD'S CLASS. IF YOU DISCOVER THIS CONDITION, PLEASE PHONE US
 IMMEDIATELY..." 


"It's one of those things from the first chapter of a 19th-century novel -- the heroine has scarlet fever and
 you know she'll die," said one parent at the Congregation Beth Elohim early childhood center. 


"But you never think it happens here, now." 


Why not? Retro-viruses are seemingly everywhere, from that guy at Beth Israel hospital being treated for
 bubonic plague (yes, that bubonic plague) to that junk-food addict who recently came down with scurvy (yes,
 that scurvy) to all the talk about the coming smallpox attack (yes, that smallpox). 


No wonder the city's current epidemic is anxiety. 


Not to worry. While there are more than 500 cases of scarlet fever in New York every year, we haven't
 time-traveled back to the bad old days, when wide-ranging epidemics killed thousands at a time. 


Thanks to antibiotics, this is not your great-, great-, great-, great-grandfather's scarlet fever. 


"It's incredibly common in school-age kids," said Michael Phillips of the city Department of Health. "But like
 strep throat, it's also easily treated with common antibiotics. There are no resistant strains." 


Back at Beth Elohim, no one -- except maybe that kid with the tell-tale rash -- was sweating too much over the
 latest "outbreak." 


"Scarlet fever doesn't impress me," said Maura Lorenzen, director of the program. "Now, if you want to do an
 article about something nasty, talk to me about head lice." 


Head lice? You mean, that's back, too? 


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