<Sounds like shingles.
<Took Navy doctors four days to figure it out. Then they told me the bad news: they couldn’t do anything about it.
Odd. My son had shingles a few years ago. The local walk-in clinic knew what it was as soon as they saw him, even though it is unusual for a young adult to get shingles. He got a script for acyclovir and things got better right away.
It sounds like the child might have scarlet fever. I had it back in the 1950’s, but I hear that kids don’t get it much today, which is why the docs may not have recognized it.
I had the shingles 30 years ago while in the Navy. Today I see that vaccinations for it are available and, as you stated, they can give medication for it.
When I had the shingles it was very painful. I was stationed in southern Spain, it was over a 100 degrees in August/September, and I was under a great deal of stress in a new position. The situation was uncomfortable, to say the least.
Glad to see that there today exists some treatment for it.