Tell me about shingles on children

[OliPolly]

Just got back from doctors with 7yo DS. He has shingles

He is well, his usual self, no fever but has the rash which has been there for about 3 days now. Its not always itchy.

He is gutted as he wont be allowed at school now. Will he get a fever or is it going to go smoothly?

bump

if he is feeling ok and the rash can be covered then he is ok to go to school (transmission of chicken pox from shingles is through direct contact with fluid from the blisters). My ds had it aged 3 and as it was misdiagnosed as eczema at first then he wasnt off nursery at all with it!!! As far as I know he didnt give anyone chicken pox. He complained they hurt at night but then I had been prescribed cream to rub onto the 'eczema' and that must have been sore (poor sod!)

from nhs website:

Staying off work or school
If you or your child has shingles, only stay away from work or keep your child off school if:

?the rash is weeping (oozing fluid) and cannot be covered or

?you or your child are feeling unwell
If the rash is only on your body and can be covered by clothing, there is little risk of passing on the infection to others.

You can return to work and your child can return to school as soon as you or they feel well enough and:

?the rash can be covered or

?the blisters have dried up

It's not oozing at all, the area is ref but tbh it's not scary looking. Doctor said that he can keep it covered and go to school but when I called the matron at the school, she wasn't having it!

They didn't know he had it and I could have kept quiet but he had been prescribed some medicine so DVD matron would have known about it.

It's a shame because he is fine

I felt absolutely fine when I had shingles, just really itchy on the rash. I only worked out that's what it was when 10mo DD got chicken pox. She was breastfed and came into contact with the rash (which was on my side) when feeding at night.

I got shingles at 15, it was caught early and i really only suffered from an itchy back (although very annoying) i was not off school at all. i was never off school

thats the thing, if I hadn't gone to the doc, I wouldn't have known it's shingles

Ah well

You should call the school, they should have a policy on this, maybe the matron is treating it as chicken pox, instead of what it actually is.

Matron was away and the Head told me point blank that he should stay at home.

Lucky I am a SAHM so no problem re childcare. Shame that DS won't see his school friends until school opens on May 4th

My dd had it when she was four, it totally wide her out but she was feverish and lethargic before the rash came out, did he get anti-virals? They made dd hallucinate. She was off nursery for 3 weeks and she's 8 now and has scarring on her back where it started!

Hope your ds doesn't suffer too much!

Oh well there you go. I think i probably had some tissue damage as i often have one spot on my back that itches. Which is where i had shingles, and chicken pox.

My DD had it when she was 2-1/2 and was diagnosed again with it today. She is 12. No pain just itchy it came on the back of a sinus infection. She is going to school tomorrow both Doc and School Nurse say it's fine. Does this mean she can get it again and again?