to consider taking ds out with chicken pox?

[LiegeAndLief]

Genuine question, am prepared to be told IAB outrageously U!

He is covered in spots but completely well in himself and has been bouncing off the walls. There is a playground a short drive from here that is nearly always deserted when we go and any kids there have always been school age. Would it be really bad to drive there during school hours, let him have a run around and jump back in the car in the very unlikely situation that someone turned up? I have no idea if the virus would be shed and stick to playground equipment etc where another child could pick it up.

I know how dangerous chicken pox can be to pregnant women, immunocompromised people etc so really don't want to put him in a situation where he might infect someone, but the selfish bit of me is desperate to get him out of the house!

Norovirus and all the diarrhoea and vomiting bugs are different - those are indeed contagious and that's why hospitals issue warnings about them when you come to visit patients. MNers, before people start giving wrong medical advice to fellow MNers, please do check the Department of Health guidelines which anyone can get access to on the web. OP, you can also get the facts there.

It's not wrong advice. A lot of people (me included) said they didn't know how long the virus lived but it's a bit pointless going to a park to find it full of kids and having to leave. A lot of people have suggested going for a walk or bike ride.

And plus if the OP was more after a wwyd than medical advice which she could Google or find out from a doctor.

I would still stay in, I would not take the risk of running into somebody and I stand by that.

My SIL brought her DS here today when she was basically chased out of a playground this morning by someone concerned that their DC would catch it. He's about 3 days into CP covered in spots and nearly 2.

I get that its a bit boring at home but honestly, we have a garden (we are near) with loads of toys and they have a garden so don't really understand why she went to the park, didn't seem to be any need.

BUT my friend is a GP and she said that the risk in an outdoor open space (like a playground) is negligible, esp 3-4 days in so she thought it was fine.

It is an un-necessary risk AFIAC and its not zero. Some risks in life are necessary and to me that is not one of them.

Can you find any activity that is totally risk free? I can't. Zero risk does not exist. Negligible risk is good enough for me.

I said some risks are worth it I think you'll find if I read my post some are not worth it. Selfishly I don't want the guilt of someone catching CP and then having complications because of me. Yes I did suffer, I suffered a lot because I kept dd in for 5 days when she had CP, I nearly had her taken off me but I would do it again because I feel it was the right thing to doing. Having had to justify myself in court I have thought about it a lot.

OP YABU

foreverondiet - your poor SIL and DN! Of course the major irony is that if she was "physically" chased out or approached, the person who harrassed her has probably picked up a few CP droplets or two to bring home to their loved ones.....some people just not the brightest button in the box.....thegruffalosma: I was the one who suggested a bike ride or a walk. OP did say she was only going to enter the playground if it were empty, and drive off once people started coming in.

Some people might be unduly worried because the Department of Health guidelines sound like you should incarcerate, I mean quarantine, the patient as though this were SARS. There is no evidence that being in the same room that a patient has just been in (and left) will make you catch CP, unless you start using cups and towels that the patient has used and left behind. The reason why the DoH advise staying away from school, nursery, work and hospitals is that in those venues you are in close CONTACT with people. It's not saying that the patient isn't allowed to step out of their home at all. Once again, going out is fine - but not mixing with people. FWIW: patients who have been immunocompromised, eg had chemo - they in turn are the ones that doctors instruct (not just advise) to stay in. Besides CP, there are far more infective conditions are there that are harder to recover from, most being invisible. Also CP is at its most contagious just before spots have even appeared at all.

For those who want a bit more information wikipedia (not normally a good source of info but in this case it is) should have enough detail: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chickenpox
PS. Dessicate means dry out - so that's why hard plastic/metal surfaces are fine. But we don't recommend using towels, bedlinen and clothes that a patient has used (including soft toys that may have been dribbled or sneezed on) as these may not dry out in time.

xstitch was right to keep her child out of nursery as the children are in close contact there. If she hadn't, the nursery would probably have turfed her out anyway (that's the general policy for nurseries). They can't help it that there has already been exposure during the incubation period but they try to avoid further spread among children that haven't caught it - or bringing it home to an infant sibling or pregnant mum. And they do/should inform parents that there has been a case of CP.

They'll all get it eventually

I kept dd3 out of nursery till her spots dried up. Unfortunately her spots appeared on a Tuesday night when she had been at nursery unknowingly infectious for two days plus maybe the previous Friday as well. Nursery put up a board 'We have had 1 case of chickenpox' then everything went quiet for a week or so after she was back until the children she had infected started coming out with it. 25 children caught it from dd3 and 35 children got it altogether. This year they have had no cases because there was nobody left to catch it
My point (when I get there) is that all those children caught it from dd because they were in close contact. It was January, they were inside most of the day together. The children ranged from age 1 to 4. I refuse to believe that in their lives they hadn't passed a CP infectious child on the street, or on the way in or out of the park etc but it was only when they were in close contact that they became ill.

tbh i wouldnt till spots have scabbed over - saying that though children are most infectious 5/7days before spots pop out so you prob infected tons of people but didnt know it

do you have any friends who want the pox (we do) and have tried for 5 years to catch it and failed

and have a pox party or any friends who have already had cp so can come and play/go round their house

its hard when the child isnt ill with the pox and driving you insane, but better that then being very ill with cp

and its for a week or so