Introduction
A skin rash after fever is not uncommon and is common in viral or bacterial infectious diseases. However, other causes, such as drug intolerance, can also be responsible for a rash with a previous fever. The rash may vary in appearance and localization.
The rash is usually red in color and is often found on several areas of skin on the body. Pustules, nodules, wheals or blisters may also appear on the skin. The underlying disease determines the necessary therapy, although the rash itself usually does not need treatment. In many cases it disappears by itself after a few days.
Causes
When skin rash occurs after fever, several causes can be responsible. The most common are infectious diseases. The so-called three-day fever (exanthema subitum) is an infection caused by the human herpes virus 6, which is characterized by a suddenly occurring high fever.
After a few days, the fever drops and a spotty rash, which is more likely to be found on the trunk of the body, appears. Also with the so-called childhood diseases, such as measles, rubella and scarlet fever, which can of course also affect adults, a fever occurs first, which disappears again after a few days. Then a skin rash appears, which differs in appearance between the different diseases.
While with measles and scarlet fever the skin rash is rather knotty-stained, with rubella rashes it comes rather to a disordered redness, which begins in the face and then spreads to the body. Shingles can also be announced by a preceding fever. The painful rash, accompanied by blisters and papules, is only found on one side of the body.
Another possibility for rash after fever is rheumatic fever. This is an autoimmune reaction of the immune system that occurs 3 weeks after a feverish bacterial throat infection. The infection is usually caused by streptococcus bacteria.
In rare cases, however, repeated fever may occur in addition to the skin rash. Furthermore, an Eppstein-Barr virus infection that has been incorrectly treated with antibiotics, usually amoxicillin (rash caused by amoxicillin), can cause a skin rash. However, the rash after fever can also be caused by a drug allergy. For example, if the patient has to take antibiotics such as penicillin for a bacterial infection, an allergic rash may appear all over the body.
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