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?

Newlife - how old are you because unless you're much older than me "in my day everyone went to school with CP just isn't true". I have never been to school with chicken pox spots unscabbed over and have never been at school with anyone who had.

Mind you if you're older than me I suppose it's possible.

It was a great deal easier for me when immunosuppressed to not have the panic of realising that I've been in contact with a child with CP -unfortunately I had a nursery age toddler at the time so it was an ongoing problem. So many people just don't think it matters and don't even mention before turning up for a playdate that their child has CP.

Maybe in the "olden days" they didn't treat so many illnesses with high dose steroids (hence the immunosuppression) maybe you just died of your illness instead. I would have died without the steroids.

Love the idea that people who are immunosuppressed should be kept away from the normla people! Single parent with a 4 year old - how is that going to work!?

Haha let's keep immuno compromised people locked up - that way the healthy people can stroll around spreading diseases.

It is a PITA - but try having a cranky three year old with CP, an immuno compromised DH (who had to move out while DC was unwell) and a child with a medical condition who was also not supposed to be around CP child.

That was a fun week

Yes of course. Because those with chronic conditions requiring treatment that causes immunosuppression don't mind at all being made to look different. Ooh I know - why don't we get coloured patches to sew in our clothes to denote our difference?

OR - Here's something a bit controversial - people could behave responsibly to their surrounding community by being considerate and not going out liberally spraying communicable disease germs everywhere!

I have just showed dh this thread, he says people are pathetic! selfish and bloody simple minded.

he angry that people think children and adults should be made to wear masks because people can't be reasonable and responsible for their own actions and thinks others should put up with their own selfish shit!

"however, if you are aware, it is unfair."

There is nothing fair about being immunosuppressed because you have AIDS or cancer and undergoing chemo. This isn't about a puerile search for "fair" but the rational thing to do if you are immunosuppressed - i.e. hope for the best ("people will stay indoors when sick") but prepare for the worst (avoid public places and where you won't, wear a mask).

That's what I would do if it were me or mine. It is the rational thing to do if your aim is to avoid dangerous infections that people can spread even without meaning to.

"he angry that people think children and adults should be made to wear masks because people can't be reasonable and responsible for their own actions and thinks others should put up with their own selfish shit!"

Is this a problem of English comprehension? Nobody said immunosuppressed people "should be made to" wear masks.

Cote, using surgical masks will in no way protect anyone immunocompromised or not against chicken pox or any other airborne illnesses. As soon as they get damp from the persons breath they lose any protection they ever offered, which was not a lot to begin with. In order to protect people from infection you need to use FP2 masks which have to be individually fitted, are much more expensive, are hot to wear and significantly reduce the ability of someone to communicate. It also makes it pretty difficult to have a meal out. Staying at home with a child you know to be infected with a (for some people) potentially dangerous illness seems a small price to pay to me in order to allow someone whose life is already made difficult by a serious health condition a little easier.

Kew

I didn't mean to offend but was talking about my experience.
I certainly didn't mean that vulnerable people should be kept away from others, but stated that ime this is what used to happen, not just with cp but other things too. I am 49, I think about the same age as yourself, maybe younger
I can clearly remember me and several of my friends being isolated from somebody who had a severe chest infection as we were asthmatic. I know it's totally different but still we were kept away.

they are not my words, they are dh, but then you are the one suggested vulnerable people wear masks!

he finds your comments laughable, your ignorance on immunocompromised people is really showing in your posts Cote, your truly don't understand not only the heath difficulties they face, but also the social and public stigma they face.

God forbid that infected people stay home for 5 days, I mean in the face of adversity, its not as if they can kill someone...

1. Masks protect against chicken pox and other airborne diseases.

1. I agree that we need to keep infectious children in. My point is and has always been that even if everyone agrees to do the same, people are infectious before they realize they are sick and therefore the rational thing to do for an immunosuppressed person would be to avoid crowded places when possible and if not, wear masks when in those public places.

The point really isn't about what those who are immunocompromised should do to protect themselves.

It's what we as a society can do to make sure they are as safe as possible by using common sense.

Only a very thick and selfish person would knowingly expose their sick and contagious child to others.

"you are the one suggested vulnerable people wear masks!"

I'm beginning to think that you may actually not able to understand what you read. I said the logical thing to do would be to avoid crowded public places and if not to wear masks because people are contagious before they realize they are sick.

"he finds your comments laughable"

I don't give a shiny shit what your DH "finds". Tell him to grow a pair and come on the thread if he has something to say.

"God forbid that infected people stay home for 5 days"

Have I said they shouldn't? No. I have said even if they all stay home as soon as they realize they are sick, they were contagious before and therefore you should not count on people's goodwill.

Again your ignorance is shining through.

Him growing a pair, what exactly goes that even mean? pointless sexist comment which is totally irrelevant to this thread.

he also cares not a jot what you have to say, because again you have no clue what its like having a child like ds2.

the fact that you think or even suggest someone use a mask going about everyday activities shows your lack of understanding and again ignorance.

This thread was about people not being kept in isolation with CP, because beforehand they did not know they had CP, yes they would have exposed XX people for the days beforehand... but knowing they had CP, and choose to ignore medical advise, they then expose XXX people, who then expose XXXX people... and then compromising and putting those vulnerable at risk of serious illness and even death.

But Im glad this thread has been highlight, because hopefully for some, it highlights why isolation is important.

Parents and adults are well aware of the risks of being immunocompromised, we dont need someone who is ignorant on the subject to suggest they should wear a mask to octracize them further from the public further or make them feel like sub species.

ds had to wear his wet dressings out and covered in his blood, he was treated like a leaper as if he was a danger to them, rather than them be a danger to him. but I suppose ignorance is bliss.

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16490606

I don't wish to get into a technical argument about masks but just to clarify with more up to date research surgical maths are not designed to protect the wearer. They let in a significant amount of pathogens and are not appropriate for immunocompromised patients.

Please quote exactly which comment of mine you believe is incorrect. Shouting "You're ignorant" doesn't quite make it so.

And also please stop talking about your DH. I've got one of those, too. It's not as singular as you seem to believe.

"Him growing a pair, what exactly goes that even mean?"

Was that too subtle for you? It means your DH should somehow find the courage to come on the thread himself if he has something to say.

The immunosuppressed should wear masks? Really?

1. Masks don't actually protect against airborne illnesses very effectively at all! I have actually tried them! If I really wanted to protect myself I would have to wear a full on hazmat suit. Know how difficult it is to eat in a mask? To communicate with other people, to sing? To keep the bugger on all day as it makes your face itch, slips down your nose, makes you look like a prat?

2. Thanks for suggesting I don't deserve to go to work, eat out, see my friends & family, have a normal life. Of course, why didn't I think of this before! I'll just stay at home and become increasingly isolated & depressed. Anything to prevent 'normal' people from having to go out of their way by quarantining their sick children from me for a couple of days, regularly wash their hands, sneeze into a tissue in instead of all over my face/food - how selfish of me!

3. In case you didn't know, immune suppressed people already blame themselves when they get sick because some fucker infects them. Thanks for adding to the burden.

Princess - That is interesting. I expected the protection offered by surgical masks to be higher for airborne pathogens. Still better than nothing, obviously, but you are right - they can't be counted on when the stakes are high.

"Thanks for suggesting I don't deserve to go to work, eat out, see my friends & family, have a normal life"

Again: Nobody said that.

What I said was the obvious fact that these diseases have incubation periods during which people are contagious before realising they are sick & stay indoors.

Chicken pox cost me £1000s in lost earnings (self-employed) and additional costs to stay abroad when my daughter caught it and showed her first spots 15hrs before we were due to fly home.
YABtotallyU.

I get sick of the 'oh, you should have just flown anyway' comments. My £1000s do not match the cost of the miscarriage I could have caused in a passenger, had we flown etc.

Thegolden, if only it were as simple as to wear a surgical mask that does nothing other that ostracize suffers further... Its simply just as easy as that.

damn it, I could have left ds medpac at home, instead of being terrified every time he leaves the house... or that his one2one at school needs re-training every 3 months, as well as the teachers every 6 months.

Or the fact he could not attend school for 3 weeks... because an unknown allergen was risking his life.

that pesky surgical mask could have solved all his issues bullshit

Friends grandson is in hospital as we speak, has been critically ill with CP.....it's really not a simple childhood illness, in his case it has been life threatening.

Should I get my DC vaccinated? Have any of you done it?

i asked before i took my child with chicken pox into specsavers because my other child needed his glasses there was no one willing/able to look after him those who were willing were unavailable and from other people i got the whole OMG you can catch SHINGLES argument they really didn't stop to think all of my children have had chicken pox ive never caught shingles despite having a compromised immune system the kids sleep in my bed when ill and im usually in the bath with them too when they are ill

if my other son wasn't being made ill by not having his glasses i would have waited (he got migranes in his stomach he was really ill with them so needed the glasses) fortunately they said yes got me in and out rapidly keeping me away from everyone but the staff

when my eldest had it we snuck out late at night to the all night tesco he waited outside with his sister (who was not old enough to babysit at the time) and i went in and got food we needed