SCARLET FEVER

Abstract

In 1913, Amato1described the bodies that have come to bear his name, ascribing to them a differential value in the diagnosis of scarlet fever. He found them in this disease from the first day of the invasion up to the second and third day of the desquamation, and represented them as small bodies—roundish, oval, elliptical, triangular, quadrangular or crescent shaped—in the cytoplasm of the ungranulated polymorphonuclear leukocytes, one or more of which appear in the leukocyte. These structures which stain with azur-blue are found either in the periphery of the leukocyte or near the nucleus, and are easily demonstrated in artificial light. Inside these Amato bodies, one may distinguish from one to four red or red-violet stained granules of different sizes, sometimes centrally and, if the Amato body is crescent shaped, peripherally placed. These red granules are barely visible and must be distinguished from the blue granules, which