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It was a jarring moment when generations of young readers got to the fourth book in the
Little House
series by Laura Ingalls Wilder and saw that it opened with the simple
statement that her sister Mary had gone blind from scarlet fever.
Ingalls wrote her remembrances late in life for young readers, and many
believe they were heavily edited by Rose Wilder Lane, but what made it
into print left a distinct and frightening impression. But it turns out
that scarlet fever
doesn't cause blindness. Dr. Beth A. Tarini
deduced, after a decade of research, that Mary probably went blind in
1879 due to viral meningoencephalitis. But why does it matter so many
years later?
“When I’m in clinic,” Dr. Tarini said,
“and I tell parents their child has scarlet fever, I see their eyes
widen. In my mind, it’s no different than a strep throat with a rash,
but the specter of history colors their reaction.” Those emotional words
describing Mary’s lost vision still carry weight with the parents who
read and remember “By the Shores of Silver Creek” and all the books that
came before and after it.
“We’re taught to find out what’s wrong
and give a patient a diagnosis,” Dr. Tarini continued, “but that’s only
one of the things the patient needs. If I say ‘scarlet fever’ and a
mother is thinking, ‘Mary Ingalls’ then if I don’t know to pull that
out, I’m not doing my job.” It matters to pediatricians if it matters to
their patients.
Read more about Tarini's research at the New York Times.
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