WWYD - pox on holiday

[meladeso]

Be very glad of some ideas / advice.

We have a small ish set of blisters since yesterday on DC who is 3. Assume they're chicken pox.

We're in a family resort in the canaries, staying here until Wednesday.

What do I do?

Quarantine in room for the duration?

Keep distance from others but otherwise carry on largely as usual? Including attending breakfast with other guests, play in pool, eat in restaurants in evenings etc?

I feel like if it was only about passing it on to other kids, some people would say just keep distance from others and hope for the best. But what about pregnant women etc? People at risk of more than just a few days of itching / illness?

Also do I tell the resort? Do I tell the travel operator? Airline?

I hate to break this to you but you can get chicken pox twice. I know everyone thinks you can't but it isn't actually true. My family has all had it twice and chicken pox as an adult is not much fun, so please do stay away from communal areas (as you are doing).

See here www.thechickenpox.com/questions/can-you-get-chicken-pox-twice.php

EwitsAHooman, that simply isn’t true

You may want to tell that to the NHS then as it forms part of their advice on dealing with CP...

Thesearepearls one of my DC has had it three times!

i caught chicken pox at 19 from someone who went to a party with chicken pox. 14 of us came down with it afterwards. To my knowledge, I had not actually even seen him much less be in the same room as him.

The first time DD caught it she was a non-mobile baby and the only times she'd been out in public, she was in her pushchair or in the sling and I know she had no physical contact with anyone outside of our immediate family unit for the three weeks before the spots came out because for one of those weeks we were on holiday at a NT cottage rental more or less in the middle of nowhere and for the other two DS was doing settling sessions at preschool and was shattered so the only day to day outings we had were to drop him off there and pick him up afterwards.

If you can get any bicarbonate of soda put it in the bath, meant to help the blisters scab. We put a whole pot in at a time x

Also we had it the other way, pox before the holiday. We were confirmed for to fly and it was 8 days after the first pox appeared, she was all scabbed over.

Just echoing a poster above. My youngest got chicken pox whilst in Spain and the chemist gave me a brilliant powder. It was like dried calamine lotion. Really helped her with the itching.

If you're really desperate to get back for school etc, could you not hire a car and drive back to the UK? Is there such a thing as a company that covers both countries? Might just be worth looking into if you really need to get home x

My DDs also had CP twice. First time she was in contact but not held by her older cousins who had it (she was 12 weeks old).

Second time she had been off Nursery for a week and not been anywhere but the supermarket and came down with it so it must be airborne.

I've been warned she might get it again when it goes round Nursery again. And AFAIK she's not imuno-compromised/surpressed.

How busy is the beach, could you find or drive to a deserted bit so they could have a few fun hours?

We have some salt for the bath today. It definitely was helping even without.

DC slept a brilliant 12 hours last night without a peep, am so pleased.

A good sign I hope.

We're going to walk down to a little lake I've heard about nearby which is salt water. Hopefully can find a spot away from people and get a bit of salt water on her that way too.

Can I put sunscreen on DC tho do you think? Or better just to limit exposure time?

Don't want to be in the heat too much anyway as everyone saying it exacerbates it.

Could you go out really early in the day, although water might be chilly. Ambre solaire was fine when dd had cp. We had a tiny paddling pool and used moisturising bath oil. You or dh can still take dc1 out and about during the day. One to one time could be really good for them,

I would try to stick to the shade, wear loose clothing etc, I think sun cream is fine but I’m not a doc. We certainly used it with DD but hers were scabbed over at that point. She did potter in our garden when she was getting the blisters so I’m sure I would have put sun cream on as it was during the 30 degree heat.

Sorry your holiday has been scuppered, OP. A friend of mine took her children to South America for their first holiday in a decade - was supposed to be the holiday of a lifetime. Her youngest developed CP the day after they arrived so she was trapped in a hotel room with him for 10 days until he scabbed over. Then her second youngest came down with it the day before they were due to fly home! The insurance took care of extending their stay/new flights, but it was very stressful and a very boring holiday!

Why on earth don't we vaccinate against it here? I know, money. I booked DS2 in to be vaccinated earlier this year, but he caught it before the appointment.

Someone told me we shouldn't vaccinate because it's a collective immunity thing. Like taking too many antibiotics. And as it's typically not life threatening we shouldn't give unnecessary vaccines?

I was just thinking, so if one of us brings eldest DC home as planned this week, leaving younger with pox behind, eldest is probs likely to get it in next week or so?
So sending them to school knowing that - is that ok? Ought I to tell the other parents?
Have left a message for School to ring me when they're back in.
I feel like I'd be pissed off if someone else brought their kid in knowing they've a good chance of getting it and therefore spreading it.
Urgh I'm so tired of thinking about all the implications/permutations.
I suspect the head will say if they don't have symptoms they have to go to school.
I just feel for the other parents and there isn't really any way I can avoid them knowing the background.

How are you doing? How was the lake?

I would tell the school and ask them what they want you to do. They will know if they have imuno compromised children, they will do the risk assessment and advise you so one less thing to worry about.

Are you in touch with the holiday rep? I would be surprised if your child is the only one with CP.

The lake was a bit of a non event but at least we got out!

We're going to hire some bikes today as the suns pretty hazy and try having a day out.

Spoke to School who said fine to come back in. Can't stay off forever for a what-if, essentially. Which makes sense.

Well I hope you have fun on your bikes, you will laugh about this in the future, I hope.

If your eldest has caught it from your youngest it can take up to 3 weeks before she gets them so you really can’t tell. 2 days before the spots appear she’ll be infectious but DD has a temp one of those days so maybe just keep and eye on her general wellness. You might be fine and it all sync up so the first spot you see is Monday morning meaning she was infectious over the weekend and it’s just 1 week off school.

You never know how it’s going to go but it’s food that you’re worrying about all these things. You will be well prepared x

The reason why CP is not routinely vaccinated against is due to the possibility that not having CP floating around in the general population could result in more shingles developing in elderly people.

news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8557236.stm

It's not a stupid idea, but shingles vaccines are likely to get better and more standardized in the future. On balance, I opted for the vaccine.

thegeekfatherblog.wordpress.com/2017/09/25/why-doesnt-the-uk-have-a-chickenpox-vaccination-programme/

This blog gives more details.

When mine got it, it was exactly 15 days between the first and the second.

Oh OP what horrible luck ☹️. Hopefully you can get out and about somewhere. Pleased your little one seems to be coping okay with it. I'm immuno compromised too, thank you for doing all the right things. Hopefully it won't be too long until you get a fit to fly.