The health authorities received 23 reports of suspected cases of scarlet fever this month, the highest this year.

Another seven turned out to be false alarms, Health Promotion and Disease Prevention director Charmaine Gauci said, adding that laboratory tests were being carried out to confirm the rest.

The numbers shot up this month following a report last January and two last month. The majority of the cases were found in schools.

The rise in the number of reports this month could be ascribed to increased awareness among family doctors, Dr Gauci said, adding that a circular urging doctors to keep their eyes open for the illness was sent by the health authorities in the middle of the month. In fact, more than half of this month's reports - 13 - were received since the circular was sent out on March 21.

"We were expecting the increase," she said, adding that suspected cases underwent laboratory tests to confirm whether the patient was suffering from scarlet fever.

Scarlet fever is transmitted through close prolonged contact and is caused as a complication of the streptococcus bacteria, which normally causes the common sore throat.

The disease usually occurs after a throat or skin infection and symptoms include a rash that shows up as tiny red bumps, sore throat, fever and swollen glands.

Alarm over an increase in cases of scarlet fever was raised by international health experts earlier this year.

The increase was also registered in Malta, with figures from the Disease Surveillance Unit showing the islands registered 49 cases of scarlet fever last year, more than five times the number of cases reported in the previous decade.

The increase could be due to a slightly different strain of the bacteria, which the Maltese people are so far not immune to although scarlet fever is treatable through antibiotics. Dr Gauci stressed the importance that parents visited their family doctor when they suspected their child could be suffering from scarlet fever. It was imperative to take a full course of antibiotics if these were prescribed by the doctor.

Dr Gauci said a number of people were going to pharmacies and asking for antibiotics, which they could take as a preventive measure.

But this risked creating a strain that became resistant to antibiotics, turning a disease that rarely caused complications into a dangerous one.