to object to Chicken Pox quarantine advice?

[SummerMonths]

I understand CP can be nasty but I don't see any point in the quarantine advice. The virus is infectious for two days before the spots appear and obviously nobody knows it's coming so the virus is spread. Then the spots arrive and you have five days of house bound hell despite the fact you have already exposed people for days before.

And if the NHS were really concerned about stopping CP spreading they would vaccinate, but they don't. In fact they rely on kids getting CP young as it's more serious when old.

So can anyone explain the point of quarantine given you will already have exposed others to the virus? Isn't it rather a case of shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted?

[ilovesooty]

You can't prevent exposing others to a virus you don't know you have but I don't think that means you can put other people at risk once you're aware.

[LouisVuitton]

Eh?

Whilst you can't do anything about the two days before you know it's CP surely it's better to limit the amount of people who could become infected once knowledge of CP is there. It can be extremely dangerous for pregnant women so surely you'd want to limit any risk.

[MiscellaneousAssortment]

Yes it doesn't help with the previous day's, but as soon as it is possible to know, you should respect that your child is contagious.

Chicken pox does kill, in situations where a child has a compromised immune system.

It really does happen.

[RedRainRocks]

Well, you can't help who you accidentally infected but you can prevent spreading the disease more widely once you know. It can be incredibly dangerous/serious for some people... Why would you want to knowingly expose them to that risk?

[MrsJayy]

Well its to stop further spreading really its sensible advice where would you want to go take a child too when they are spotty and ill anyway send them to school take them to nursery the shops maybe infect a pregnant woman ? btw there is a vaccine

[Katz]

So because for TWO days you may have infected someone you think we should scrap the quarantine period after which is for as long as it takes the last spot to scan over which is generally a minimum of FIVE days.

[miserablesod]

There is every point considering cp can kill! Not every young healthy child is able to fight the cp virus on their own, some like my 3 year old did, get seriously ill and end up in hospital!

[CoffeeCoffeeAndLotsOfIt]

Because if you don't quarantine when the spots are out, you can infect even more people - this time knowingly. It can be v serious for some - pregnant women for example.

My understanding is, vaccines aren't routine as CP circulating in the general population can protect against developing shingles. The more someone who is immune to CP, is exposed to CP throughout their life the less likely they are to develop shingles later in life apparently. If we vaccinate against CP then people won't get exposed to it. This is what I've read previously.

[TheMasterMurderedMargarita]

I do understand where you are coming from but. Would you knowingly expose someone to a vomiting bug?
You may not know you have it til you start being ill it doesn't mean you would then spread it around afterwards.
It is grim but worse going out with whiny poxy children no?
(And now about a million people are going to post about immuno compromised people and how bad the pox is. Which it can be.)

[SummerMonths]

It seems to be either it should be recognised as dangerous and vaccinated against or people should be position encouraged to catch it young so as to avoid dangers of getting when older or pregnant.

There doesn't seem to be much logic in he current advice which suggests that it's not dangerous (otherwise they'd vaccinate), it should be caught while young and yet young people shouldn't expose their friends.

[MrsJayy]

Dd had cp before christmas she was at work so a tonne of people might have caught it doesnt mean she should have gone in to work and spread it some more, you wouldnt go out if you had a vomiting bug even though you probably caught it from being exposed outside

[TheMasterMurderedMargarita]

Ha took too long to post .

[SummerMonths]

Coffee - your post is an argument against quarantine "the more people who have had CP are exposed to the virus then the more they will be protected from shingles"

[Minisoksmakehardwork]

Yabu. Chicken pox is infectious until the spots scab over. Hence quarantine advice. Yes it may be hell being cooped up for a few days with an itchy and fractious child (or children, 3 of mine got it together). But better that than risking exposing someone else to the illness who may be far more ill as a result. You won't always know who has a compromised immune system when you are out and about, but you would know that your own children were infectious.

Advice that it is better to have the illness while young can be taken care of by the period when you do not know your children have pox. Therefore morally you don't have to feel (as) bad if anyone else were to catch it. But deliberately exposing all and sundry to a highly contagious illness should have people feeling awful if another person becomes serious ill as a result.

[MrsJayy]

They rolled out the vaccine when dd was younger in our area i got her done it only lasts 10yrs apparently so she got them so its catch 22 really with the vaccine

[SummerMonths]

TheMaster and MrsJay - vomiting bugs are different. There is no advantage to getting infected with a vomiting big. They is an advantage to getting CP while young: you won't get it again. There is an advantage to exposure after you have had CP: it will boost your immunity to shingles.

[LegoRuinedMyFinances]

They do vaccinate high risk groups but it's not cost effective to vaccinate everyone.

Even with the vaccine CP can cause great harm to an already vulnerable section of society, so why not just play nice, quarantine your kid and not risk potential harm to others?

[SummerMonths]

To clarify: I did quarantine all my kids but I'm just thinking over the logic of why I did so.

[MrsJayy]

[Themaster] we probably posted at the same time great minds and all that

[HermioneJeanGranger]

There isn't an advantage to getting CP if you have a compromised immune system

[TheMasterMurderedMargarita]

Yes but the principle is the same. Why would you knowingly infect someone with a nasty bug?
And you can gain immunity from vomiting bugs there are just more varieties of them.
And you might not ever get chickenpox.

[MrsJayy]

You quarantined because you are a thoughtful decent person who didnt want to cause anybody else to be ill.

[GloGirl]

Infecting 3 people is bad.

Infecting 30 people is worse, not quarantining people is quantifiably worse.

How is that hard to comprehend?

Say you have unprotected sex when you unknowingly have HIV. You get a diagnosis, should you then just carry on as before?

I believe the NHS don't vaccinate against Pox because exposure to the CP virus ocassionally helps prevent getting shingles, so if all children were vaccinated against CP a lot more elderly people would be affected.