Dukes' disease

Dukes' disease, named after Clement Dukes (1845–1925),[1][2] also known as fourth disease,[3] Filatov-Dukes' disease (after Nil Filatov),[4] Staphylococcal Scalded Skin Syndrome (SSSS),[5] or Ritter's disease[6] is an exanthem (rash-causing) illness primarily affecting children and historically described as a distinct bacterial infection, though its existence as a separate disease entity is now debated.

It is distinguished from measles or forms of rubella, though it was considered as a form of bacterial rash.[3] Although Dukes identified it as a separate entity, it is thought not to be different from scarlet fever caused by exotoxin-producing Streptococcus pyogenes after Keith Powell proposed equating it with the condition currently known as staphylococcal scalded skin syndrome in 1979.[3][7]

It was never associated with a specific pathogen,[8] and the terminology is no longer in use.[3] However, a mysterious rash of unknown cause in school children often gives rise to the question of whether it could be Dukes' disease.[9]

A photo provided by the CDC[10] that depicts the rash that children get while infected. The rash is distinct as it shows multiple splotches of inflamed areas on the body and is irregular in its colonies. Duke's disease may have a similar appearance as the rash as it has the same mechanism of bacterial infection that causes the rash.
  1. ^ Ninkov T, Cadogan M (15 August 2022). "Fifth disease". Life in the Fast Lane. Retrieved 2024-07-23.
  2. ^ Dukes C (1900). "On the confusion of two different diseases under the name of rubella (rose-rash)". The Lancet. 156 (4011): 89–95. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(00)65681-7.
  3. ^ a b c d Weisse ME (January 2001). "The fourth disease, 1900-2000". Lancet. 357 (9252): 299–301. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(00)03623-0. PMID 11214144. S2CID 35896288.
  4. ^ Dukes-Filatov disease at Who Named It?
  5. ^ Ross A, Shoff HW (2024). "Staphylococcal Scalded Skin Syndrome". StatPearls. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing. PMID 28846262. Retrieved 2024-07-23.
  6. ^ "Skin Rashes: Diseases 1-6". www.atsu.edu. Retrieved 2024-07-23.
  7. ^ Powell KR (January 1979). "Filatow-Dukes' disease. Epidermolytic toxin-producing staphylococci as the etiologic agent of the fourth childhood exanthem". American Journal of Diseases of Children. 133 (1): 88–91. doi:10.1001/archpedi.1979.02130010094020. PMID 367152.
  8. ^ Morens DM, Katz AR (September 1991). "The "fourth disease" of childhood: reevaluation of a nonexistent disease". American Journal of Epidemiology. 134 (6): 628–640. doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a116135. PMID 1951267.
  9. ^ "Dukes' return? On the trail of the mysterious rash in school children". Healio, Infectious Diseases in Children. April 2002. Retrieved 19 August 2013.
  10. ^ CDC (2024-06-18). "Photos of Measles". Measles (Rubeola). Retrieved 2024-07-27.