Scarlet Fever Upsurge in England and MolecularGenetic Analysis in North-West London, 2014 [Announcer] This program is presented by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. An unprecedented rise in scarlet fever occurred in England in spring 2014, with more than 13,000 notifications. The authors analyzed clinical notification data for North-West London during 2009 through 2014 and determined emm genotypes of Streptococcus pyogenes causing upper respiratory tract, or URT, infections. During March through May 2014, scarlet fever notifications in North-West London increased 3 to 8-fold compared with the same period in previous years. Although Health Protection regulations in England require clinicians to report suspected cases of scarlet fever, molecular surveillance of noninvasive Streptococcus pyogenes is not feasible because testing for it is not routinely advised for patients with a sore throat in the United Kingdom. Nonetheless, a limited number of URT swab specimens are submitted by clinicians for culture. Since 2009, all Streptococcus pyogenes URT isolates identified in the West London diagnostic laboratory have been stored. This laboratory serves a pop…DOWNLOAD FULL REPORT.