Sibling of infected tot wants to come and play

[Londonista]

My sister in law wants to send her older daughter here to play because her younger daughter has chicken pox. The older one has been vaccinated so she probably won't catch it. Neither of my boys have had it, neither has my husband. I know it is super contagious and I'm a bit worried that even if she isn't infected herself, the daughter could bring the virus here on clothes and toys that the baby has been near. Is this right? or am I being a bit paranoid?

1. chicken pox is airborne, and has a 2-3 weeks "lurking" period (can't think of the proper name, it's 2 am!!), so older daughter could be already infected!

but no-one can tell whether she is or isn't until she either starts having spots or you've waited at least about 3 weeks from baby's LAST spot appearing!

so baby is contagious as long as she has new spots appearing and older once are soft and/ or weeping.

when the spots start to dry and scab over they are not infectious anymore, but this is only true if there are no more new spots coming out!

and the answer is no, she can't come to play, if you want to avoid your family getting ill!
she could still be infected as some vaccinations don't take/work (shhh) and even if she doesn't break out in spots she could carry the virus and pass it on - no need for physical contact, she could get people ill just by breathing or sneezing or coughing! and you are not paranoid!

having said that I prefer my children to catch it as young as possible, as they won't scratch the spots and scarring is less likely, plus then it's done.

I'd be more worried about hubby catching it, for adults it's much worse, you get shingles (no idea what happens, but not pleasant apparently)

so tough cookies for your sister and your niece, they have to stay away.

(if she has a problem send her to me)

No, don't let her come. CP is not the inocent childhood illness people seem to think it is. There is a thread in chat at the moment that shows that.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/1649084-DS-still-asleep-what-to-do

You can get chicken pox if vaccinated, as vaccines aren't 100% effective. Your dh wouldn't get shingles as you only get shingles from your original CP virus, which lays dormant in your body. In fact as an adult, if you have had CP as a child, the more you are exposed to it as an adult the less likely you are to get shingles, as it reminds your body of the virus. Having said that he would catch adult chicken pox, I have known a few people who had it and they were very ill, hospitalised with pneumonia etc. He may already be immune - sometimes it can be v mild, but I would suggest that he considers the vaccine, I'm not massively pro vaccination, but that is one illness which in adults is almost always nasty. Your dc will probably at some point catch it, not worth the risk to dh. I would err on the side of caution this weekend and get dh off to the dr for the vaccine, he might need to pay, but probably worth it for the weeks of disruption if he was ill. Hope your neice is better soon.

Thanks that's useful everyone. I think it's not the boys but my husband I should be worried about. Although my younger son is asthmatic and CP can cause lesions on lungs in extreme cases so on reflection I think we probably need to get everyone vaccinated.