Chickenpox etiquette

[DappledThings]

DS(3) just got over chickenpox. DD(15 months) has no symptoms so far and they are both at nursery today.

On Sunday we are meant to be at a 40th birthday lunch which will include various children ranging from 11 months to 7 years. I'm messaging a few people to find out if their DC have had CP but I know at least the youngest of the group definitely hasn't.

If DD comes up in spots before then obviously we won't go but if she seems fine she might still be incubating and into the infectious pre-show stage. So would you cancel anyway? Or just let people know?

It's the sort of thing where if it was me who had the other child and was the one being asked I'd just say it was fine and risk it but I'm trying to find the balance between being sensible and responsible!

Otherwise based on the potential incubation period it could be 3 weeks before we can go and fo anything involving other children. Is that what people do?

I wouldnt go just incase any pregnant ,elderly or young babies are there but if none are these and no one minds then it would be ok ,but if it were me i wouldnt, better to be safe than sorry but thats just my view ,im sure others would be different to me.

I had this over Christmas with my DC. Thing is any child can be incubating anything at any time! DS4 had it, a few weeks passed and we though DD1 had avoided it but she broke out in spots after we went to the nursery Christmas party. If I were you I’d stick with going unless she’s obviously got chickenpox.

First things first, take the younger one to get the vaccine today, as it's pretty effective at preventing an outbreak after exposure.
You can get it in lots of branches of Superdrug

As angel said, you have to be very careful that there won't be immunocompromised people at the party who could potentially be infected. It isn't just other children you need to worry about

Mine tended to be exactly 14 days between each child getting it, what day would that take you to? It’s the same for many people I know.
14 days being from child one showing spots to child two showing spots.

And no, most people don’t avoid socialising when they could be incubating.

What day did your eldest come down with it exactly? Our nursery was hit hard by chickenpox and virtually everyone found the spots appeared on the second child exactly 2 weeks after the first. If Sunday would be within a couple of days of that peak 2 week interval, I would skip it, but if it's towards the end of the 3 weeks then it seems a bit OTT.

If you do go, check the younger one very carefully all over before you leave. If you leave the house with a spot or 2, they could be covered by the time you get there!

And no, generally I wouldn't avoid all contact with others before you get any spots. A specific event where there will be other babies at the peak risk time is a bit different though.

BiscuitDrama That's good to know. DS got sent home from nursery with spots on the 3rd. So that would mean DD not likely to get spots till 19th and not infectious till 17th. Lunch is on 13th.

Mum of youngest child there has just replied saying to come as her DD will get it some time so she'll try to keep babies apart but no big deal if it means she gets it from us this weekend.

DS got sent home from nursery with spots on the 3rd

Sorry, meant 5th. The Friday.

That's good. I would risk it I think, and explain to the other parent why it looks like a low risk. Assuming there'll be no one there who's immunocompromised etc.

God, the nonstop chickenpox threads on MN. As someone living outside the UK, it's just so odd. There is a vaccine, everyone!

Thanks for that Kokeshi123. I, and I assume most of the UK population are guided by the JCVI who have concluded that adding the vaccine to the standard schedule would be "neither cost effective or epidemiologically sound".

I'd try and avoid anyone immunocompromised or newborns but I don't think it's reasonable to quarantine a child for three weeks because the might be incubating.

I agree with your reasons for not vaccinating - I tend to follow the NHS guidance on such matters.

PCohle and OP, you might want to both read the last 2 paragraphs of this paper on perhaps the real reason there isn't currently a chicken pox vaccination as part of the NHS schedule
And then scroll up a bit to the bit about hospitalizations and deaths in the UK vs US before doubting the epidemiological soundness of the vaccination...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2066070/

Personally I think believing you know better than the national medical establishment on the back of a quick glance at one paper is how you end up a mad anti-vaxxer.

If you chose you get your child vaccinated then great, but as I've said I'm personally happy to follow the NHS guidance.

Actually most countries have introduced the vaccine because it is cost effective (cost of vaccine is about £60 v lossyo economy of parent taking a week off work). This would also make it cost effective fora lot of families. Not to mention the whole let’s male children sick to help prevent shingles in old people logicis just mean.

Just make sure that all attendees are aware before you go so that they can decide not to expose themselves if they feel the need. A lot of British parents don’t care about it, the ones who do care have probably vaccinated their children. It’s more people with autoimmune issues that will be effected.

@PCohle but theNHS also think it’s ok to wait two months for an oncologist appointment. It’s not exactly offering top notch medical care.

If you chose you get your child vaccinated then great, but as I've said I'm personally happy to follow the NHS guidance

Ditto!

I'm not a doctor or an epidemiologist. I do not believe that I am particularly well qualified to make decisions regarding the safety, efficacy or cost effectiveness of vaccines simply because I am a parent. As I've said, I'm personally happy to trust in the NHS guidance in relation to these issues.

I'm sorry you think the NHS isn't offering top notch, cost effective medical care. That hasn't been my experience.

Personally I think believing you know better than the national medical establishment on the back of a quick glance at one paper is how you end up a mad anti-vaxxer.

But the chickenpox vaccine is not this weird alternative "thing" that is being promoted by some crazy Doctor Whackaloon on the internet. It's now basically standard in the majority of developed countries to my knowledge.

Genuine question, but if you emigrated to a country where the CP vaccine WAS part of the standard schedule, would you get the vaccine on the grounds that this is now the official advice in the place where you are living?

But the chickenpox vaccine is not this weird alternative "thing" that is being promoted by some crazy Doctor Whackaloon on the internet. It's now basically standard in the majority of developed countries to my knowledge.

I don't personally feel I have the necessarily knowledge to determine who is a "crazy doctor whackaloon" in this context though. Take the paper posted by Tenbob upthread for example, I have absolutely no idea if that is particularly credible or not. Andrew Wakefield's MMR study was published in the Lancet, which I would have regarded as a highly credible source.

With my child's health at stake, I'd rather rely on qualified medical and scientific professionals than take a stab based on googling.

Genuine question, but if you emigrated to a country where the CP vaccine WAS part of the standard schedule, would you get the vaccine on the grounds that this is now the official advice in the place where you are living?

Yes probably. Vaccination schedules vary worldwide based on different environmental and population based risk factors.

Genuine question, but if you emigrated to a country where the CP vaccine WAS part of the standard schedule, would you get the vaccine on the grounds that this is now the official advice in the place where you are living?

I'm with PCohle again here. Yes, I probably would. I would follow the recommended vaccination schedule there as I do here.

With my child's health at stake, I'd rather rely on qualified medical and scientific professionals than take a stab based on googling.

The big big problem is that you assume all, or even most, policy decisions within the NHS are made by medical and scientific professionals
It unsettles me how shiny-eyed some people are about blindly following whatever the NHS recommends, even when it isn’t remotely evidence-based

There is a very strong likelihood that the chicken pox vaccination will be introduced into the standard vaccination schedule after 2022, when the shingles vaccination of the elderly population has reached a certain level.
I am quite looking forward to the reaction of those who have argued quite forcefully about why it’s a totally unnecessary and unproven vaccination which the NHS actively advises against and they will only ever follow the NHS

What would you suggest I do rather than "blindly following whatever the NHS recommends" though? As I've said I, like most parents, don't have the qualifications to allow me to assess the reliability of the wealth of competing, apparently "evidence based", medical information available online. And frankly I think encouraging people to think that they do is in part what has lead to anti-vax nonsense.

The NHS are perfectly upfront about the reasons for not introducing the chickenpox vaccine. I don't think I'm being particularly "shined-eyed" about anything

I'm certainly not someone who has "argued quite forcefully about why it’s a totally unnecessary and unproven vaccine" and as I've said I have no problem with parents who have opted to pay for the vaccine privately. The NHS changing its advice based on whether "the shingles vaccination of the elderly population has reached a certain level" certainly wouldn't bother me. That's exactly the sort of analysis of wider population risk that I expect qualified professionals to account for when individual parents may not.