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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think if your kids have chicken pox and its not scabbed up, you should stay away?

51 replies

lisad123 · 20/04/2009 21:53

DH took DD1 and DD2 to the farm today with my sister there to help with their children too. DD1 sat next to a little girl with Chicken pox, and then hence Dh was exposed to it too. My sister told him, and Im pretty sure she wouldnt have been worried if it was all scabbed up. So now Dh has to have another round of drugs, as chemo has killed all imummity he had!

I know chicken pox isnt major for most people but surely people know its not safe for everyone! Good job misdee's hubby wasnt there otherwise he'd be the same

OP posts:
TheCrackFox · 20/04/2009 22:00

YANBU. It takes, what, 5 days to scab over? Very selfish.

FAQinglovely · 20/04/2009 22:03

YANBU - it's one thing a desperate dash to the school run or shop if you have no-one else to go and even then it's not great - but to take them to a farm?? A completely unnecessary trip totality irresponsible

Twinklemegan · 20/04/2009 22:06

It's one thing to get children with chicken pox to mix - get it over with early and all that. It's quite another to expose other adults to infection - it can be so much worse for adults, especially someone like your poor DH. YANBU.

MaureenMLove · 20/04/2009 22:06

How strange, I was just about to start a thread of my own about the very same thing!

I had a Rainbow come tonight, who kept scratching. I asked her if she had an itch (in a fun, jolly Guider way!) and she said, 'Oh, I've got Chicken pox!!' By this time, it was only 20mins from pick up time. Mum seemed totally oblivious to the fact I was bothered about it! 'Oh' she said, 'they only started coming up yesterday!'

Original poster
lisad123 · 20/04/2009 22:08

mmlove, I know loads think its not dangerous, but it is for some!

OP posts:
FluffyBunnyGoneBad · 20/04/2009 22:09

These are shocking. What irresponsible parents, I didn't dare take ds out of the house, I was even worried when the last one had scabbed over because I didn't want to pass it around. The child he caught if from was sent to nursery every day with chicken pox. I spent christmas alone with him, we didn't go out at all!

SparklyGothKat · 20/04/2009 22:29

The little girl was not scabbed over, she had weeping sores still... my kids all have had CP (apart from Ds2) but I stayed in the month they had them (Ds1 got them first, and the girls got them 2 weeks later) we even cancelled our holiday and lost £90....

SlightlyMadStirrup · 20/04/2009 22:35

The official guidlines are that a child with chicken pox is more contagious pre spots. There are some that believe that they stop being contagious once spots appear.

However, the HPA guidlines say 5 days from appearance of first spot - which may mean that some are still weeping/not crusted etc.

However - I normally adopt a cautious approach and wouldn't take them to a place like that until they were visually heeling for fear of a public reaction such as this. That said - I certainly don't think you are wrong to be concerned - especially given your DHs current health status - and as you don't know the facts abaout where in the infection the girl was at - you obviously have to respond as though she was infectious.

Mo on teh other hand - Totally !

sail73 · 20/04/2009 22:36

YANBU at all! When I was about 4 I was on imunosupressant drugs and if I'd had chicken pox I could have died. I therefore don't view chicken pox as casually as some of my friends. One of them recently said that a friend should take her dd with chicken pox to a certain place as its good for children to be exposed when young. Yes if they are healthy but not if you don't know the health history of every man woman and child present.

SlightlyMadStirrup · 20/04/2009 22:37

Oh and my DD3 current appears to have chicken pox - but after a medical examination it has been confirmed that it is not chicken pox but flea bites - so it isn't necessarily chicken pox.

I am not trying to disagree with you cos I can 100% see why you are concerned/annoyed/upset.... - just trying to suggest alternatives.

FAQinglovely · 20/04/2009 22:38

yes "more" contagious - but that doesn't mean they're not contagious once the spots appear - just means they're "less"...........

welshdeb · 20/04/2009 22:41

Maureen thts shocking. Can you have a word with the parents, I would have thought you could exclude the child for this - surely she wasn't in school today?
its one thing taking a pre spot infectious child (ie when you don't know they have got it) but to send an actively erupting child is downright irresponsible.
Luckily my dc weren't ill with it but it can make some healthy people very ill - I know of a child hospitalised with encephalitis from cp, not to mention immuno compromised people etc

SparklyGothKat · 20/04/2009 22:45

My DD2 has a skin immuno. problem and when she had CP, she had the 'worse case ever' the doctor had seen in 40 years!!She has them in her mouth, over every part of her body, on her eyelids, in her eyelids!! ears everywhere.. When she got inperigo (sp) it covered all of her body (apart from her face) So am also very careful when out and about now.

faeriefruitcake · 20/04/2009 22:46

If a pregnant women, who has not had them catches them in the last four weeks of her pregnancy it can kill her baby, or if a newborn whose mother hasn't had them catches them it can die.

People who let their poxy children into puplic whilst they are contagious need to be slapped told.

here

FAQinglovely · 20/04/2009 22:47

I tell you one of the "perks" I got when DS1 and 2 had chickenpox was a midwife visit at home.........DS1 had them, then DS2 had them afterwards..........and he scabbed over the day before DS3 arrived !

FAQinglovely · 20/04/2009 22:52

faerie - I had such a panic about them for that reason. I wasn't sure I had had them at all, but it turns out (according to my mum) that I'd had them extremely mildly as a child (and passed it on to all of my family - parents included who got it full blown).

Of course at the time I was thinking "ok DS3 not due for a another 2 weeks or so" - but he had other ideas.

MaureenMLove · 20/04/2009 22:53

She had an INSET day today, so she wasn't at school anyway. I made it quite clear to the parent about the generally accepted rules. (Am a retired CM, so I know the rules!!) She said she hadn't noticed anymore come up since yesterday, but I looked at a couple and they are defo CP. I will have to send a letter out to the other parents I think. A bit like the ones they do about nits at school, without mentioning names! I don't want a witch hunt for the parent, but equally, I don't want the repercutions if it spreads through Rainbows and their families.

Original poster
lisad123 · 20/04/2009 22:55

DD1 got them mild as a kid, dd2 not had them yet, but think will get her the jab.

OP posts:
welshdeb · 20/04/2009 23:05

When my ds got it, one infectious non spotty child came to playgroup and about 20 children, their siblings and adults caught it.
In my experience personally I had it at 17 and that of my dc spots can continue to erupt for a few days, even if she has a mild dose.
The fluid in the spots is full of virus so an infected person is contagious until all spots have scabbed over.
I was off school 2 weeks and as I recall nursery and cm had a minimum 10 day exclusion.

CaptainRex · 20/04/2009 23:14

My son had Chicken Pox just after Christmas, having spent the previous couple of days with my Dad who has also just finished Chemo.

He was told by his specialists not to worry as he had had CP as a child and would still be ok now, even with his supressed immune system

Original poster
lisad123 · 20/04/2009 23:16

Dh is still on chemo, his only 5 weeks in, so still too dangerous to risk according to his specialist today

OP posts:
kitkatqueen · 20/04/2009 23:26

lisad, a friend of mine from canada wasn't has recently been vaccinated as an emergency measure because her daughter got it and her baby was nearing due date! She told me that the vaccine only lasts for 10 yrs and that she will need to have a booster at that point. Apparantly this is a case where getting the actual virus and getting over it gives much better immunity than the vaccination.

Original poster
lisad123 · 20/04/2009 23:29

i know but cant risk her getting it and giving it to dh, toher wise i wouldnt mind at all.

OP posts:
Cazzaben · 20/04/2009 23:41

The trouble with chicken pox is that kids are infectious for 14 days before any spots come out anyway.

Original poster
lisad123 · 21/04/2009 07:57

i understand when you dont know, but when spots are wet and weeping you know

OP posts:
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