Shingles in 4 yr old

[narmada]

Hello all,

I think my 4 year old DD might have shingles - she has this weird patch of eczema-like sores on her back, and she has never ever had irritated skin or eczema before in her life. She had chickenpox at 11 months old.

She is fine and dandy - no other problems, no pain, no lethargy, no feeling ill. It's nowhere near her eyes.

Do I need to take her to the docs? I am wondering is a) is this a sign that something's not quite right with her immunity/ body and does she need a blood screen of some sort to see what this might be?; and b) there is a child in her class who has recently finished chemo for leukaemia and who is doing a phased re-entry to school. I am guessing DD needs to be excluded/ child's parents informed if it is actually shingles.

She needs to see a Doctor, maybe something & nothing, but only a doctor can diagnose & tell you what to do as far as school goes - it doesn't sound like shingles to me though, IME shingles is painful, but there are a lot of things it could be, most pretty minor,

Good luck

PS it sounds most likely to be some sort of skin reaction/allergy/intolerance - new soap powder ? , soap,?fastenings on her clothes? something she's eaten ?? Etc etc, but there are lots of typical children's illnesses that come with a rash,

Off to the docs in the morning then - thanks, rockinhippy

It just appeared all of a sudden, looks weird, and is in the classic spot for shingles...

No new soap powder, never eats new foods (complete neophobe!) and it doesn't look like viral rash to me. Honestly, she has asbestos skin. Nothing irritates it, nothing. Anyway, the GP can take a gander and see what he thinks.

Urticaria can look like a shingles rash - it's an allergy rash - think nettle rash - but always better safe than sorry & see a GP when they are small - hope she's okay xx

X post :)

Tis indeed shingles. she is fine tho thank goodness ...

my ds had them at age 3 after having chicken pox at 5½ months - more common to get childhood shingles if you have chicken pox under the age of 1. DS's was misdiagnosed to start with (locum doctor thought it was eczema and gave me cream to rub on ). When it didnt improve the doctor we saw next correctly diagnosed it as shingles. He didnt have too much pain except for when I was putting the wrong cream on it!

Poor mite :( -

I hope your description means that it's less painful for DCs - I had it a few years ago & it was very painful indeed - glad you got a good Doctor, hope she's better soon XX

She is right as rain. I prob wouldn't have even taken her to GP if the little girl with leukaemia wasn't in her class. No scho for DD till she's gone crusty- she's not best pleased about that.

Is the no school thing because of the heightened risk for the little girl with leukaemia narmada? I only ask because when DS1 had shingles the doctor said he was fine to go to school as long as rash was well covered (only contagious if the rash is actually touched). Could a taped dressing, vest and normal clothes do the job?

Could do but I am loath to risk it because of the little girl. She has only just come back after chemo and to make matters worse she is v pally with DD, and DD is a hugger . I think she would be fine under normal circumstances.

Poor little thing , I would be the same as you, wouldn't want to risk the little girl's health. Go and do something fun with your DD that would normally be full of other kids in holidays or weekends!