DS has been diagnosed with chicken pox but I'm fairly sure they're wrong. What else could ít be?

[ShowOfHands]

10mo DS was off colour for a couple of days, feverish, off his food and sleepy but nothing specific. No cold symptoms, no cough etc and then yesterday around lunchtime I noticed a couple of spots appearing on his arms and legs. A couple of hours later there were lots more. I initially thought chicken pox as dd had it in the same way last year (feverish and cross for a few days and then spots suddenly appearing and lots of them within hours) BUT...

We have seen nobody in the last few weeks with chicken pox or who has come out with it subsequently. Of course it could have been a chance encounter but normally it takes close contact (he clings to me, occasionally goes to dh but goes near nobody else) and we haven't been anywhere or seen anybody outside of family and close friends. Not even heard of a case of the pox locally since easter and when dd had it last year it was all over the place.

It's only on his groin, legs and arms really. Odd spot on his torso and neck, but really only a couple, hundreds on his legs and quite a few on his arms. His knees and elbows seem to have the most spots.

It doesn't really look like chicken pox. They started off small and smooth and most are now raised and look like they have a head to them but they haven't got bigger like dd's did, they aren't as dark as chicken pox, as angry looking or itchy.

So what else? I've googled images of rubella, measles, roseola, hand foot and mouth etc etc but nothing fits.

So high temp, off colour and slightly red throat according to the GP and then lots of spots mainly on legs and arms and bottom. Not much on torso at all, nothing on his face. Raised, developing a head, some in clusters but look nothing like chicken pox.

I'm not sure what to think tbh. I'm keeping him in quarantine to be on the safe side but it makes no sense. Both MIL and my Mum remarked that they don't look like chicken pox but they don't know what they do look like.

Anybody? Please?

Culd just be a virus which has given him a non-specific viral rash?

Chicken pox is highly contagious so you don't need close contact to catch it but if you feel the spots don't look like chicken pox then perhaps it is something else.

My dd and I have just had hand foot and mouth a few weeks ago - very unpleasant. I got a stinging sensation when I swallowed. But the spots were all in the mouth and on the palms of hands and bottoms of feet in our case.

Maybe go back to the GP and see a different one to get a second opinion?

Take him back to dr

Could be hand foot and mouth. Despite the name, DS got it mainly around his groin and also on his legs the first time, but mainly on the soles of his feet the second time

i have no idea, but if anyone does, could they post the answer here?

Dsis went into flying panic mode a little while back as DN came out in very simlar spots to ones you describe - newly pregnant family member had been visiting that day. she stocked up on lotions, potions, quarantined everyone else for a few days to protect other SIL then the spots disappeared overnight

Aah lovely Pol. Thanks for caring. I don't think it's a viral rash. DD has them sometimes and they're blotchy and just totally different. Different child though, but it looks like something iyswim.

I'm going to try and add a pic...

Ds was diagnosed with chicken pox when it was hand, foot and mouth.
Dd has just been diagnosed with a fungal infection which looks very similar to a chicken pox rash.

Scarlet Fever? It's going around here ATM.

Aw lots of other lovely people too. Am going to add a pic, just trying to get it from my phone.

Yep, HFM. We've had it a few times, is really easily confused with CP, ESP when they pop up on arms and legs! Are they blistering at all? Ours did, though not all, some just faded and went. The ones that did almost looked like bubble wrap.

Oh, there's a lot of spots, bless. My DDs limbs weren't as badly affected, so not sure.

Hmmm - have to say, it does look like Hand Foot and Mouth to me.

There are lots more than my crappy phone will pick up. I don't think it's hfm as his hands and mouth aren't affected. It's his legs, arms and groin really.

We had the same. Diagnosed as chickenpox, we're sure it wasn't. Sorry, can't be of much help except to sympathise with the frustration.

FWIW the spots my DC had on their limbs did look like that, it was the ones on their extremities that blistered.
It is really frustrating, the docs seem to guess just as much as anyone. My two were poorly (snotty, slight temp) for a few days before the spots appeared.

Well it's interesting that so far nobody agrees with the gp. She wasn't too sure tbh but said it was the most likely cause as it didn't look like anything else.

I've read up about hfm and it doesn't fit at all. Wrong shape spots, blisters different colour and size, lack of other symptoms and in the wrong places.

The thing is, though, that Cocksackie A virus, which causes HFM, is one of a group of enteroviruses. The echoviruses, which are in the same group, can cause rubelliform rashes which are more generalised over the body.

You can also try going to a chemist for another opinion. Dd1's chicken pox was completely a typical though. She had hundreds of tiny spots, a few blistered but the blisters were no bigger than 2 or 3 mm. Most didn't even blister, went straight to a tiny blackhead sized scab. She had no fever or itching, was all over in 48hrs.

How do I know it was chicken pox? Came exactly two weeks after dd2 definitely had it (have no idea who she got it from as wasn't even in preschool). She was obviously exposed then. When ds got it a few years later she had spent the whole of half term kissing and cuddling him, I wondered if she would get it again, but no. I have no idea where an 18 month old got it from either. Plus whenever it went around nursery or school she didn't get it.

I'm not saying it is CP as obviously I haven't seen it, but dd's certainly wasn't typical, and if she had had it in isolation I wouldn't have thought it was CP. Hope whatever it is he is feeling better soon.

So same group, different presentation sort of thing?

The thing is he's ok. As soon as the spots appeared his fever broke and he cheered up a bit. He's still not himself and his legs are annoying him I think as he's squirming a bit but aqueous calamine is sorting that out mainly.

I don't want to waste an appointment when he looks the same as yesterday, isn't particularly unwell and it's nothing 'obvious' iyswim. I think the diagnosis would be the same.

CP has to be more likely than hfm in terms of probability as well. HFM is allegedly v contagious and NOBODY has anything. Not friends with children, not us, not dd. It's just ds. We've all had cp so wouldn't expect to catch it iyswim. Have just spoken to the nanny who looks after dd's bf and she says her bf's ds has cp atm so maybe there are local cases?

I agree it looks like HFM - does your ds go to nursery? That's where my dd picked it up.

No. Like I said he's with me and occasionally he lets dh hold him. If it is hfm it's in the wrong places, the wrong shape, wrong type of blisters and nobody else has it and he's been near nobody apart from me and close family and a couple of friends (who didn't even touch him). Surely somebody else we know would have it too? It's most perplexing. It's not on his hands or mouth and he has a couple of spots on his right foot.

Ahh, I even more convinced that he has an echovirus now! The rash that occurs with Echovirus 16 appears as the fever goes.

This is so much more fun that the work I should be doing

VTW, Showy, should say I am not a medical doctor, just a medical scientist, so am quite possibly talking out me arse here.

Oh, and it could be that DD has acquired it at school but is asymptomatic. In children, males are 50% more likely than females to show clincal illness following infection.