To be absolutely livid about chicken pox!!!

[fairybeagle]

Trying to keep this short! Met a friend and took our babies swimming together. A few hours later got a message saying that her baby has chicken pox. Turns out she'd seen spots before taking her and still gone (she knew it could be chicken pox as both her other kids have just got over it).

I then bumped into her the day after, WITH THE BABY, at the shops. The baby would have been very contagious at this stage. She also kept trying to touch my baby. Wtaf!!!

What is wrong with people why are thy so lax (and acting like I'm overreacting). My baby isn't even 1 yet and I really don't want them to get it.

How contagious is it? They touched each other on the hands in the pool and shared food and I think toys in the pool.

There were lots of other young babies and pregnant women in the pool.

I just think it's so out of order and such a dick move!!

Not even prepared to be told I'm BU but interested to see if anyone else is this blasé about it

@kitemarked

It’s all my Scottish friends’ kids that have had the nastiest most tough strains of CP I’ve ever heard of; for real.

I don’t know if you’re in the Highlands but there have been some fucknasty quite serious cases of late up there

From your same link @KiteMarked:

To prevent spreading the infection,keep children off nursery or school until all their spots have crusted over.

Chickenpox is infectious from 1to 2days before the rash starts, until all the blisters have crusted over (usually 5to 6days after the start of the rash).

If your child has chickenpox, try tokeep themaway from public areasto avoid contact with people who may not have had it, especially people who are at risk of serious problems, such as newborn babies, pregnant women and anyone with a weakened immune system (for example, people having cancer treatment or taking steroid tablets).

My 14 yo has just got over CP. He was almost admitted to hospital it was so nasty. It wasn't a mild illness in his case at all. It was mild for my younger son. And the older dc caught it off his brother, so go figure.

CP can be mild or it can be horrific. The problem is that you can’t predict how your child (or another adult) will react to it. I’ve been told that babies under a year who get it don’t tend to have enough immunity from it and usually get it again later on.

I'd be angry too, ridiculously selfish behaviour. Babies under 1 do not get immunity if they get chickenpox. We plan to vaccinate at 13 months (needs a month between that and MMR), I don't want my DS unnecessarily ill and creating further risk for those who might have low immunity such as his great aunt who's having chemo.

My ds had it around 6 months and then shingles age 3. Getting CP under 1 year increases chances of childhood shingles

There seems to be a lot of ignorance about chicken pox.

My DD found out she had no immunity to cp when she was pregnant with her 3rd and it was going round her oldest child's school.

Made her pregnancy quite stressful as she was having to avoid going to places where she might catch it.

The doctors at the hospital wouldn't okay the jab that they give pregnant woman in these circumstances unless she had a GP's letter to say she'd been in direct contact with an infected child. Thankfully she got through the pregnancy without any problems but it was a worrying time.

She also had no immunity to Rubella despite having had a rubella jab on it own when she was a baby and then having the MMR when it became available.

Many of these, so called, childhood illnesses can be very nasty, I don't think a lot of people realise.

I think there should be more public information on this, perhaps a tv campaign similar to the one running at the moment about the over use of antibiotics.

She's a very selfish woman. Yes it's mild for the majority but it's not always a minor illness. DS2 finally got it before Xmas, fortunately he wasn't too ill although he had loads of spots. He and I missed a very important family event because we didn't want to risk exposing anyone. This was 6 days into spots.

We also only left the house to go into the countryside and walk the dogs where we wouldn't come into contact with anyone. I phoned a tradesman who was coming round to warn him as he had a baby at home, out of courtesy.

Disgusting behaviour to knowingly risk infecting others. I think people are the most infectious just before the spots appear which is why it spreads so easily..

PS for those who are thinking of getting vaccinated (wish I'd got around to it) be careful about the timings and where you plan to go afterwards as it is a live but weakened version of the virus and there is a very very small chance of developing chicken pox.

And on the point of public health campaigns many western countries routinely vaccinate but the UK won't introduce it on the NHS because of the cost. (Or risk vs cost) Private vaccination is quite pricey as a result.

Chicken pox can be fatal in both children and adults and can cause long term disability and fetal abnormalities. Of course these complications are rare and it is usually a mild illness but so is measles, rubella, etc. we really should be vaccinating children against it as a matter of course and stop minimizing it. The US CDC record that around 150 people died a year in the US from chicken pox pre-vaccine. Now it’s less than 10.

Will do, thanks @fingerlickingud, I'll ask the nurse how long the infectious period is.

Thanks for all the replies everyone. No sign of it yet but it's early days and I am still fuming. Such utter disregard for anyone else. She looked guilty when she said it as well.

I will definitely look into getting him the vaccine when he's old enough xx

She's a dick head.
I have a friend like this. Failed to tell me her DD and DS had had stomach bugs the day before we met up. We were going on holiday the following day. I was pregnant. We all caught the bug and suffered whilst on holiday and I was hospitalised due to dehydration.
Furious is an understatement.
People should stay the fuck at home when they are ill, some people just don't have the immunity to fight illnesses the same.

@Clemetipops how awful!! I could not agree with you more. Some people are so inconsiderate. Suffice to say I'm not planning on remaining close

Taking a child swimming is out of order as that would be an easy way to spread to many strangers who you won't know their situation ie pregnant, have immunosuppressed family member etc

I don't really see an issue taking them to the shops. Presumably they are in a pushchair so unlikely to spread the illness.

Personally I do think it's better for most children get chicken pox. Obviously some exceptions.

My ds got it at 9 months but it was too mild to give much immunity so he got it again at 2.5. My dd got it just after her first birthday. Both were fine, just a bit spotty. I was much older and had it much worse than them.

Pink princess- it’s better for children to get chicken pox? Better than what? It’s not better than getting vaccinated. As I said, chicken pox can kill. It usually doesn’t but it can kill and maim healthy adults and children. It’s particularly dangerous for pregnant women. I really don’t understand why some people persist in the attitude that somehow it’s good for children! It’s really, really not! Get vaccinated!

I was exposed to CP during my pregnancy by someone who thought it would be a good idea to take their spotty and clearly unwell toddler on a plane (and yes, the mother confirmed it was CP when I asked her). I had my bloods checked and they confirmed I was immune. It completed my resolve to have DS vaccinated as he had also been exposed and getting the vaccine fast enough can prevent it or make it a milder case. The nurse giving it had to check with someone else that he was allowed to have it when I was pregnant because it’s a live vaccine but they agreed on the grounds that I’d already had my immunity confirmed. Unfortunately they do have to be one to get the vaccine so this doesn’t help you. People can just be totally inconsiderate.
The vaccine in this case is one to weigh up the pros and cons for (not for any loony anti-vax reasons!). The NHS don’t have it on their schedule but it’s available privately. The manufacturers generally only claim 10 years of effectiveness but most pharmacies say the two doses give the same level of lifetime protection as having had chickenpox and it’s been on the schedule in a number of countries including the US since the 90s and they haven’t seen an upsurge in adult chickenpox because the vaccine immunity has ‘worn off’ - I will probably try to get DS a private blood test to check his immunity around the time he starts secondary school just in case, you really don’t want it as an adult. Once you have the vaccine it also becomes possible to get shingles as it would after you’ve had chickenpox but it’s likely to be milder. The main reason the NHS don’t give it is that reducing the chickenpox circulating among children would increase the instance of shingles in adults (I don’t fully understand why but the nhs site gives some info) so until the adult population are all people who’d been vaccinated rather than had chickenpox they would be at more risk of shingles. So at a population level maybe better not to vaccinate (although a number of governments clearly disagree) but at an individual level probably better to do so.