being fed up of seeing kids out shopping with active chicken pox?

[jellybeans]

Hi I have a nearly 6 month old DS and 4 older kids. The older ones all had CP and when they were infectious I kept them in unless I had to go out and then I was careful to keep them away from people. However, the last two days i have seen kids in Tesco shopping and in Boots with full CP (ie not scabbed up). I would much rather DS was at least 1 when he gets it, also worry about the newborns and elderly getting it. AIBU to think people should keep their infectious kids at home?

So sorry Nix

Nix72, I am so so sorry to hear of your loss.

My DD was exposed to CP when she just 6 days old. My friend had been round that day with her DC, and their spots developed later that day. It was taken very seriously by our health professionals, and I had to give blood samples so they could assess the likely level of immunity that I may have passed on to her. Thankfully she didn't develop it at that stage.

What made me really was that my friend arrived round at my house again 3 days later with all 3 of her CP children!!!!

My DS got it when he was 7 weeks old, and had neutropenia, so that was yet another extremely stressful situation. People don't realise how potentially lethal it can be.

Bringonthesummer - of course there will be times when people are unaware of the virus, and there will be unavoidable infections this way. But to keep levels reasonably low in the community, it is only responsible for people to limit exposure as far as possible once they are aware of it.

Sorry Nix to hear your loss, my comments look very insensitve . I only read your post after I posted myself .

Yeah tyotc I agree but I believe people are unaware of the potential dangers of cp. Also as in our case I have not seen cp since when I had it 30 yrs ago and my daughters case is so mild I was really unsure if it was cp . We diagnoised her on the internet as did not want to go to gp.

Nix - I am so desperately sorry for your loss. I feel very strongly about the flippant attitude to CP as my daughter, aged 3 and a perfectly healthy lttle girl also ended up with CP Pnuemonitis. We were incredibly lucky as the second GP who saw her realised what was happening and she was admitted to hospital straight away and she recovered. Thinking of your little one and hoping that your story helps people to understand how potentiallylethal this illness can be.

I took my dd to a christening where she hugged the baby being christened and played with all the other children there. The following day she came down with a few spots which were confirmed as chicken pox. I felt terrible as she would have been highly infectious at the christening-but there was no sign that she was in any way unwell until the following day. I too kept her in until she was past her infectious stage-but there will be many children happily infecting others in the same way before the spots appear.

YANBU - your OP doesn't make it clear, but when you said later that mum was with another adult, and buying calamine (so almost definitely CP) - the other adult could have stayed outside/in the car with the child. It's not fair on other people and not fair on your child. If you need to take them out, go for a walk somewhere quiet (or if in a city avoid the busiest times of day eg avoid school runs and lunchtimes)

I took DD2 to doctors with CP and waited outside the building till her appt so that I was away from people - that was the only place I took her out for over a week.

I'm getting DD3 vaccinated next week - a question to those who have vaccinated - how long do you have to stay away from people after the jab? The receptionist said stay away from newborns/pregnant women/immuno-compromised for 6 weeks - I'd not even thought about this and am hoping she is wrong. It would mean sticking her in a buggy with a rain cover to do the school run, not being able to go to toddler groups/parks, not being able to take DD2 to her dance/swimming classes (in both instances I have to stay in the building) - I can understand a week (like the virus) but 6 weeks virtually housebound sounds like torture!

I am so very very sorry for your loss Nix So sad. It shows how dangerous CP can be, I think many people just think of it as a 'mild illness' and some people 'want' their child to get it but sadly it can be lethal for a minority.

housemum is vaccination for CP private? I heard that they may do the jabs in the immunisation programme eventually.

Housemum - we didn't have to do anything specific. if the kids had developed a rash after the immunisation, then the advice was to have the rash checked to see if it was caused by cP - then the normal precautions about avoiding contact would apply.

but for the majority of people, CP is a mild illness.

Very, very few people die of CP (eight in the past six years iirc). In fact more people die of conditions related to the common cold and yet we don't have this hysteria surrounding colds that we do surrounding CP.

Fwiw I wouldn't take my children out if they had CP, but sometimes there is just no choice in the matter. A friend's dd came out in CP the day they were due to fly back from a family holiday. She simply did not have a choice but to take her child on the aeroplane, as staying in a foreign country until the spots scabbed over just wasn't possible.

BFG - that's what travel insurance is for. Flying with a child with active CP is one of the most selfish things that I have ever read about on a parenting forum. I know a couple f families who have had to stay abroad with a child with CP because airlines have not allowed them to fly.

Jellybeans - yes, it's at the local travel vaccination place, costs £60.

Sassy - that's a relief, perhaps the receptionist was just reading out worst-case scenario or something.

not travelling was not an option for them. The husband runs his own business and could simply not afford to spend another week or two abroad while his clients took their business elsewhere.

Colds and flu are equally if not more infectious and yet no-one would dream of suggesting you spend extra time abroad because of those.

Thanks Housemum, may look into it.

What i dont understand is that people dont use internet shopping?? my best friend has got chicken pox at the moment as has her 3 yo ds2 they all caught it off ds1....she has quarantined herself...but off the internet and stop spreading these viruses about..better to be safe than sorry??

Housemum my DS2 had the CP vaccination when my DD had luekemia. I wasnt told to keep him away from her at all and she was severely immunocomprimised.

Of course it is possible to infect people before the infection shows without knowing about it, but I think once you know you have a responsibility to the wider community. As for immunisation we have a 5mo and I am currently deciding whether to have her vaccinated. Probably more for me than her, not sure I could cope with the anxiety of her getting it after losing her sister to it. My two older children had it when they were 1 and I was fairly casual about it, but I didn't know then that it could be potentially fatal.

nix didnt realise you were still about tonight. I saw your post about your LO and I just wanted to say I am really sorry for your loss.

I haven't read all the way through this thread - but I am perplexed by how many of you seem to be terrified of Chicken Pox . Just like many other mothers, my mother sent me to play with friends who had chicken pox to ensure that I caught it, and I did the same with my children.

It is of utmost importance that children (particularly girls) catch it when they are younger - if everybody locks their children away at the first sign of illness then there could be a real public health problem within a decade. There is no point choosing to vaccinate rather than catch it because the vaccination does NOT ensure lifelong immunity.

I think if you had read the whole thread you might find that most of us are not terrified of chickenpox. Some of us have lost children because of it and others have had dreadful experiences because of it.

If people want their kids to get it thats up to them. I dont think parents should take their infectious children out in public.

If you look back in the thread you will see why.

whoingodsname, page 1:

Thre is a such thing as a home delivery for both groceries and medicine. Boots do deliver.

YANBU, ill children, adults as well, naturally, should stay home where they can not infect others.

Yanbu. I find it selfish, and inconsiderate unless circumstances really are desperate and it can't be avoided.

However...I am strangely disappointed that ds hasn't succumbed due to a lady visiting us the other week witht wo spotty children, unannounced...I was annoyed at the time but now I'm wishing he would just get it over with!

What Chegirl said.