Going to the shop with Chicken Pox?

[DesTeeny]

DD4 may have chicken pox, I don't know for certain because apart from the spots, she is absolutely fine, no rash, no upset, nothing. I can't tell if it's chicken pox or a viral rash, as she had a stomach virus last week (thank you so much primary school, she's never been ill so often).

I've kept her off school just in case but I need to go to the pharmacy, and a shop. Is she OK to come with me if we go when it's quiet and keep her away from other people? And thoughts on going for a walk/ feed the ducks /outdoor play area if there aren't any other kids?

AIBU to take her out?

My Dh can't make immunity to chicken pox. Last time he had it, we only found out because he was in hospital with meningitis and the lumbar puncture showed chicken pox to be the cause. It gets worse each time. I dread the next time.

Ring the pharmacy and no you don't need to go to a park or to feed the ducks FFS.

You'd have to talk to the nursery, but it takes a couple of weeks for symptoms after contact. You are most infectious before the spots appear until they crust over.

Sorry meant to quote your post about keeping the baby home from nursery...

Because your baby hasn’t got chickenpox. Being in close contact with chicken pox doesn’t mean they’ll actually get it. You don’t have to keep your baby off nursery for an illness they may or may not develop.

I agree. I would phone the pharmacy and ask them how they would manage this. Though I will say OP that once CP has started to blister it's very clear what it is.

She's got a rash, what's there to be confused about?!
Stay at home. Not sure why you're even asking if you're not going to listen to people?
I'm currently taking medicine to suppress my immune system, hope you're not anywhere near me.
Most pharmacies do some kind of service now, why not ring up and explain the situation? I'm sure they'd rather that than you potentially go in and infect half of them!

Even if your child doesn’t have chickenpox, they clearly have something going on, so of course you wouldn’t take them out! It would be totally selfish if you did. Have you got a partner that can pick you up your meds?

Just take her. The chicken pox vaccine exists so you can assume anyone who doesn't want it will have gotten their children vaccinated. Anyone who moans about catching it but can't be arsed to vaccinate their kids deserve to be exposed to the risk. Sorry, but true.

Twice with my little girl she came out in a rash just after playdates with kids who then got full CP, but it never blistered and disappeared very quickly. She did then get full CP in Reception. I think sometimes they might get it very mildly but not enough to develop immunity.

Just to clear up something that keeps getting mentioned on this thread- you can't catch shingles from someone with chicken pox.

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/chickenpox/

It can take up to three weeks after infection for chickenpox to show.

I’m curious as to why you think it’s chickenpox if she doesn’t have the distinctive blisters? Is it known to be doing the rounds where you are or has she been in contact with someone who has it? I would ring the pharmacy, explain, and ask whether someone could pop outside to take a look when you go down to collect your medication - if it isn’t, you can go in, and if it is, they may be able to bring your stuff out for you. Alternatively, do an e consult with your GP if they offer that. You can’t keep her off for ten days just in case and it could be another virus or even an allergic reaction.

If she hasn’t got it, I’d seriously consider vaccination. We have just done this - it’s £150 for the two jabs from Boots and gives 98% protection. Those under a certain age will get it as part of pre-school boosters from next year, I think, but they aren’t running a catch-up programme. It’s more unpleasant the older you get, so would definitely consider the vaccination - it’s been around for years.

Incidentally the shingles vaccine also exists and it's highly effective. So anyone genuinely concerned about catching it should just get jabbed instead of moaning at strangers for taking their children, who may not even be infected, out and about.

This is incorrect. It's a live vaccine, so people with severe immunodepression can't have it. Obviously there's always a risk of catching something from someone before it's obvious they have it, but I wouldn't take my child to a place like a pharmacy with a rash that might be chicken pox if I could avoid it.

Also have you checked her rash against other illnesses like Scarlet Fever? That would need Antibiotics for example.

Well there are lots of different rashes and not all of them are contagious and would require her to be off school for a week?

It's a small, local Pharmacy, not sure what services they offer but as I said previously, I'd wait outside until no one was in there just in case. It's not like she's going to go in and touch everyone and everything?

But crikey if I knew it would cause this much upset I wouldn't have asked! I only asked a question and I'm being called selfish and all sorts! You all need to calm down a little bit.

MN always tends to bring out people who belong in the 0.1% group of medical anomalies who have severe immunosuppression or rare genetic reasons why they cannot have a baseline medical treatment that has been proven effective for 99% of the population.

The point is that the vaccine exists and works well for the vast majority of healthy children. If ALL healthy children received the vaccine then it would essentially stop the transmission of chicken pox, which has a much stronger protective effect for those children who cannot have the vaccine. This is the concept behind herd immunity and the best option for all those who cannot have vaccines.

So instead of yelling at individual parents for taking their potentially infected children out, it makes far more sense to have as many children protected from the illness as possible before they are even at the risk of being infected.

How selfish.

You do realise that the CP vaccine is new and will launch on NHS in Jan 26? So unless children were vaccinated privately…adults have not generally been vaccinated and not all adults have had chickenpox.

So you think those who have not had chickenpox and those who could not afford the vaccine are fair game?

Disgusting comment.

The pharmacy staff may not have had chickenpox yet.

There have been dozens of threads about chickenpox on here - you will never get anyone saying yes it's okay to leave your house because the rest of the world is immunocompromised and/or pregnant.

Am I being unreasonable: YES.

Oh well, I’ll do what I want regardless.

My dd gets viral rashes - it’s very different to chicken pox. Have a look at this nhs guidance:

https://www.nhs.uk/symptoms/rashes-babies-and-children/

I’m off to book my chickenpox vaccination since I’ve never had it and apparently if it catch as an adult and get seriously ill it’s my fault because other people think if their child has a seriously infectious air borne virus they can’t go to school but they can go to the shops/playpark/places full of sick people.

She hasn't been near anyone who has it as far as I'm aware. I only thought chicken pox because she's just started school, lots of bugs going round etc. and she developed a rash.

I looked online and can't see a rash that looks similar, just little red bumps, but just thought she hasn't had it, she's the right age... I dunno.

Baby is eligible for the vaccine if it isn't chicken pox. Annoyingly if it is chicken pox, I'm also eligible for the vaccine but I haven't been able to get it yet.

Or that they can’t afford it!

DS is vaccinated but it was about £140 and not everyone can afford that. It’s not always about not being arsed.