【Abstract】 Objective To explore the early characteristics of the outbreak of scarlet fever. Methods Standardized questionnaire is used to collect the information, including the epidemiologic data and clinical manifestation, of 34 scarlet fever patients. Early characteristics such as primary patients, mode of transmission, distribution and other related determinants are analyzed with SPSS. Results The duration of the epidemic covers 8 days. 5th day after the outbreak is the peak time. 34 patients are found in 656 students of the high school and the incidence of the scarlet fever is 5.81%, with 7.06% of the male students and 2.98% of the female, respectively. There is a significant difference of the incidence between the different genders (2=5.53, P=0.019). We also find the incidence in day-students (1.25%) significantly lower than that of the non-day-students (27.84%) (2＝118.86，P<0.001). Conclusion Comprehensive measures consist of health education, detection and report of the outbreak in time, patient isolation and interruption of the route of transmission, etc. should be taken to prevent and control the outbreak effectively.