Out of All Other Diseases, How Did I End Up With Scarlet Fever?

While we were reading Jane Eyre and it came to the part of the Typhus epidemic, I couldn't help but remember my bout with Scarlet Fever.
I was in second grade, and was experiencing what seemed like a hard core cold. My nose, my throat, and my mouth were all swollen and I had these weird red spots throughout my body. But not only that, I was so tired all the time, especially after the simplest activities like walking up the steps. With all these symptoms, I had no fever though.
As time passed, my throat got so bad I couldn't swallow anything. Finally, my mom took me to the doctor. After some tests, the doctors came back and said I had strep throat...and Scarlet Fever.  He said it was caused by going from one extreme temperature to the next. What I don't understand, is where did I experience such a strong temperature change? I lived in Dayton, Ohio!
Seeing as Scarlet fever is contagious (and strep throat for the first 24 hours after you take antibiotics), I couldn't go to school as long as I had it. Which, seeing as I loved school, sucked. I sat around all day eating popsicles because I couldn't swallow anything. And while I like popsicles, after about 10, they just don't cut it anymore.
So, for the next couple of weeks, my days were filled with popsicles, movies, and naps. Which probably seems alright, but the sick part, was not fun at all.
For those of you that don't know what Scarlet Fever is its symptoms are, like I mentioned before, a swollen throat, mouth, and nose. You also get a rash all over your body, called Scarlatina. The part you can't see though, is the toxemia. Toxemia is blood poisoning, caused by the presence of toxins from bacteria in the blood.