Told She Had Scarlet Fever: Edna Wayne, 80, Bakersfield.

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Edna Wayne, 80, was mistakenly told she had scarlet fever when she was eight years old.

I was about eight years old and it was the first day of school. The nurse inspected us and decided I had scarlet fever. They took me to Kern General Hospital and put me in isolation on the fifth floor.

I spent three months in isolation; my mother didn’t even get to see me. She thought the doctors knew what they were doing. I was weak, but I wasn’t that sick. I got to come home for Thanksgiving.

Most people never heard of valley fever in those days. People didn’t understand. The reason I found out that’s what I had was in Sacramento years later. I went to a clinic there for what turned out to be a valley fever flare-up. My whole body ached.

They asked me: When did you have Valley Fever? I told them that I’ve never had it. They said yes you have. They just misdiagnosed you. Then, I explained how I was hospitalized as a child. They said, yes that was probably valley fever.