A mother says she is grateful to get her son back to near-normal after he suffered from a mystery rash which covered his body.

George Pemble, eight, spent six days in hospital and stopped eating or drinking.

“He was very poorly,” said his mum, Cheryl Pemble, of Shrubcote, Tenterden.

“When the rash was at its worst, he could not bear being touched and just wanted to sleep.

“The doctors did not seem to know what was wrong with him and we kept being given different diagnoses.”

Mrs Pemble, 27, and her husband, Mark, a 30-year-old gas company worker, still do not know for sure what was wrong with George.

But his rash has nearly gone and he is back at Tenterden Junior School – although only during the mornings as he still gets very tired.

“All we wanted was answers,”said Mrs Pemble. “We have got George nearly back to normal now – it has been a very stressful time.”

Earlier this year, George was diagnosed with epilepsy and prescribed medication.

After about four weeks, he started complaining of headaches, which his parents put down to his new medicine.

George then woke up with a rash on both cheeks. Mrs Pemble took him to their GP, who said it was probably slapped cheek syndrome – a viral infection which leads to rashes on the cheeks – and would clear up.

Mrs Pemble said: “Within an hour, the rash had spread down his body. I Googled slapped cheek syndrome and it said it could spread and would clear up.”

The following day, a Saturday, George had a high temperature, so Mrs Pemble took him to an emergency GP, who diagnosed scarlet fever and gave him a 10-day course of antibiotics.

Five days later, the rash had started to go. Mrs Pemble took him back to her own GP, who said it was not scarlet fever and told her to stop giving him the medicine.

He thought it was an allergic reaction to the epilepsy medication, but told her to keep him on it.

After a few days, the rash reappeared and Mrs Pemble was told to take George to the William Harvey Hospital. There, doctors again thought it was scarlet fever and again prescribed antibiotics.

"As soon as you touched him he screamed because it was so sore. He was just sleeping and his temperature went up to 40.2C" - Cheryl Pemble

Mrs Pemble said: “George was hardly eating or drinking, and the rash spread again all over his body.

“As soon as you touched him he screamed because it was so sore. He was just sleeping and his temperature went up to 40.2C.”

Mrs Pemble took him back to the William Harvey and George spent six days there from Tuesday, February 17.

After he was discharged, he had to go to Kent & Canterbury Hospital for a skin biopsy, where staff told Mrs Pemble that George had hepatitis.

She said: “He is now off his epilepsy drugs to get his liver back to normal.

“It looks like he may have had scarlet fever, or an allergy that affected his liver.”

Whatever it was, the Pembles’ other children Catelin, nine, and Bella, two, have not been affected.