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?

agree jessy, I dont think some people have a clue really, proved by this thread. Im glad of this thread to, glad that it shows CP isn't just a childhood illness and also glad it shows the ignorance of some people who think they know best because they read it on the internet so it must be true.

God forbid you have to stay indoors during your holiday/home I mean it could have been worse, your DC could be in intensive care with a tube down their throat, or the other poster who posted a few pages ago whose friends child is acutely unwell with it that they need hospitalised.

but apparent pox parties are a good thing, all for the greater good apparently but whose greater good? because it isn't my DS or those other vulnerable people.

"but apparent pox parties are a good thing, all for the greater good apparently"

You dodge the question when I ask it, then make these snide comments NHS doesn't vaccinate against CP so all those children going to a CP party are going to get CP one day anyway. I ask you again: Would you not rather their parents time it for when they can keep them indoors, and know when they will be contagious before they are symptomatic so they don't unknowingly infect your vulnerable child?

Do you not want to understand what I'm saying?

Your statement that it's "fantastic" for children to get it "naturally", but that they shouldn't knowingly be sent to play with a child who has CP does not make sense. What is the difference between catching CP "naturally" (from a child you don't know has CP) and catching it from a child you know has CP? None whatsoever.

"glad that it shows CP isn't just a childhood illness"

Actually CP is just a childhood illness, and one of the few left that we don't routinely vaccinate for. I understand that your child is a special case and that you are worried about him, but

I'm not dogging you cote, I just can't be arsed with you, big difference!. your ignorance and lack of understanding on immunocompromised children speaks for itself.

*dodging

You are dodging my posts, and then making snide backstabbing comments to others about them.

You know how I said your DH needs to grow a pair and come on the thread himself if he has something to say? I see a pattern here. You also need to grow a spine and answer me directly if you have something to say about my posts.

I'm still waiting for your answer re why you think children getting CP "naturally" (by chance) is "fantastic" but them getting it at a CP party (on purpose) is a terrible thing. If you've got one, let's hear it.

NHS doesn't vaccinate against CP so all those children going to a CP party are going to get CP one day anyway

False. I grew up in Australia before the vaccination programme. My brother and I were exposed to the disease countless times as children. Neither of us had it as children. I had it severely as an adult; my brother had his immunity tested and is now vaccinated.

It's also quite irresponsible and selfish to knowingly expose your child to an illness in the hope they'll catch it without then at least restricting their contact with others during the quarantine period.

So what you & your brother didn't get CP as children so unvaccinated children don't get CP? Vulnerable children don't have anything to worry about then, do they?

I'm from an era when there was no vaccination for any childhood disease. Trust me when I say that the vast majority of unvaccinated children will get all childhood diseases.

No. The opposite - your interpretation is quite a stretch. I'm saying that the statement that 'all those children are going to get CP anyway so may as well get it when it's convenient' is false, and sets up a fatalistic approach (they have to get it so may as well get it out of the way) among parents that is potentially dangerous.

I think the NHS failure to vaccinate is irresponsible and anyone sending their child to a chicken pox party is a selfish fuckwit, particularly towards the vulnerable people they will inevitably come into contact with while they are at significantly increased risk of shedding virus while asymptomatic.

Most unvaccinated children will get CP in a country without a vaccination programme. Not all. And even if your statement were true, it's incredibly selfish of parents to try to get their child to contract the disease at a time convenient to them, and then sending them into contact with other people for whom chicken pox would be either very serious, or even just plain inconvenient.

In my case, if my grandmother had received the shingles vaccine, or if I'd had the chicken pox vaccine, not only would I not have been seriously unwell, but the small baby I was nannying at the time would have been spared the risks associated with the disease.

I'm too am from an era when there weren't many vaccines, certainly none for Chicken Pox. A lot of children died.

Jassy don't you think that it would have been better to have it as a child as adults generally get it more severely?

"'all those children are going to get CP anyway so may as well get it when it's convenient' is false, and sets up a fatalistic approach (they have to get it so may as well get it out of the way)"

It is realistic, not fatalistic. They will get it and should get it when young.

"anyone sending their child to a chicken pox party is a selfish fuckwit"

Well you sound lovely

DS got CP as a baby and immediately passed it to DD who got it two weeks later, so we didn't have to make this decision, but several friends sent their children to play with DD while she was contagious. They are not "fuckwits" and they definitely are not "selfish". From that moment on they treated their children as potentially contagious, which is much better for vulnerable strangers than catching a disease unknowingly.

"Most unvaccinated children will get CP in a country without a vaccination programme. Not all."

Those few are at risk because they will have it much worse as adults.

"if my grandmother had received the shingles vaccine, or if I'd had the chicken pox vaccine, not only would I not have been seriously unwell, but the small baby I was nannying at the time would have been spared the risks associated with the disease"

If your mother sent you to a CP party then none of the above would have happened, either. Given your own experience to the contrary, I don't see why you insist children should be made to avoid CP and leave themselves open to the risk of getting it in adulthood, which is much more dangerous.

mantra

I vaxed all of mine. It was two injections 8 weeks apart, for those 8 weeks we had to avoid knowingly hanging out with vulnerable people.

Afair it was about £70 each child. But if you fit into certain groups in the UK you can get it for free

Jassy don't you think that it would have been better to have it as a child as adults generally get it more severely

Yes (assuming I would have had it more mildly as a child, which isn't a given) but despite repeated exposure I didn't get it. Assuming that all children get it, or that all adults are immune, is wrong.

Core, my apologies for not qualifying my statement properly. I should have said that people who deliberately increase their children's likelihood of getting the disease to the 80-90% range without restricting their activities and the potential that they will pass it to people who have not made the same choice are selfish fuckwits.

I was in extended exposure to children with chicken pox, including household exposure, that would have taken my risk of getting the disease into the same level or higher as chicken pox parties (just not intentional on the part of my parents). I did not contract the disease on any of those occasions. I did get it in my early twenties. Again, your assumptions are off.

Cote, not Core.

I know a child who died from chicken pox. I would never knowingly expose anyone to it.

And forty years ago you would have been publicly disgraced if you sent a sick child to school. The doctor would have come out to your house if you had something like chicken pox or measles, just to check you out. I have lots of memories of being quite recovered from illness but remaining tucked up at home with Lucozade and tomato soup for a few extra days, just to be on the safe side.

It is realistic, not fatalistic. They will get it and should get it when young

This is opinion, not fact. My opinion is that children should not get it at all if it can be avoided.

I'm another who didn't catch CP until my early 20s. I had the delightful experience of having to attend a job interview with dried up spots all over me. Didn't get the job wonderwhy

I'm going to make arrangements for dd to be vaccinated.

"My opinion is that children should not get it at all if it can be avoided.

The only way it can be avoided is if you vaccinate and revaccinate as necessary. That is not the norm in the UK.

So yes, unvaccinated people will very probably get chickenpox. Better they get it as children than avoid it and risk getting it as an adult - Chickenpox in children is considered a mild disease but tends to be more severe in adults.

"Assuming that all children get it, or that all adults are immune, is wrong."

The vast majority of children get it and therefore the vast majority of adults are immune.

Adults who haven't had it should get themselves vaccinated.

The vast majority of children get it and therefore the vast majority of adults are immune.

Indeed. But not all, which is worth

Adults who haven't had it should get themselves vaccinated

Some cannot. Some can, but can't afford to. Some may not even know it's an option, or that they are at risk.

Parents who are so concerned about chicken pox conflicting with their holidays that they'd intentionally infect their children and expose others so that the disease is 'convenient' should consider budgeting for chicken pox vaccination from their holiday funds.

The only way it can be avoided is if you vaccinate and revaccinate as necessary. That is not the norm in the UK.

That's rather my point. I think it should be, and the NHS's current (public) position for not doing so is illogical and not backed by current evidence.

But in the absence of an effective vaccination programme, an attitude of 'fuck those who haven't had it, their parents should have be exposed them more often when young or they should get vaccinated now, and the immunosuppressed should avoid... the world' is pretty reprehensible.

Ive had bloody chicken pox! As an adult, and yes it was unpleasant.

That is not the point for those of us who are immunocompromised.

Doesn't matter if we've had it or not. It's still dangerous.

YABVU
A friend of mine caught cp whilst pregnant. Her daughter is severely and profoundly disabled. Wheelchair bound, oxygen dependant, blind, deaf and severe learning disabilities. It is likely she will pass away before adulthood.
My mum and many others are immunocompramised due to chemotherapy, cp could and does kill people in this position.
Taking a child with cp out whilst still infectious is completely and totally selfish and ignorant.

"Parents who are so concerned about chicken pox conflicting with their holidays that they'd intentionally infect their children and expose others so that the disease is 'convenient' should consider budgeting for chicken pox vaccination from their holiday funds."

I think the idea isn't "conflict with holidays" but "get it over and done with before school starts, and certainly before adulthood". And "expose others" is better managed when you know your child is contagious.

sazza, that is the sort of story that makes me feel justified in losing the £1000s I did when DD got it on holiday. I am sorry for your friend. All the 'I'd have just flown home anyway' brigade make me