Is it possible to catch chicken pox from a 3rd party?

[MakeTeaNotWar]

We're supposed to have some plumbing work done by a neighbour tomorrow. He's just phoned to say both his DCs have come down with CP. If he still comes round tomorrow, can 8 month old DS catch CP from him? We're flying to Ireland next week to visit my parents so it's not a good time for him to get sick

If he's caught chicken pox from his kids then it's quite possible. Chicken pox is infectious from a couple of days BEFORE the rash shows - so in theory he could have it, do your work and get the spots the next day. However, most adults are immune to chickenpox because they probably had it as kids, possibly without even realising it - DS only had about ten spots when he caught it.

No. Not unless he's coming down with it himself, and still wouldn't be infectious until the last few days before his own spots came out, which is probably about 2 weeks after his child's spots came out.

Ok so as long as he's had cp himself in the past, he would be immune and therefore not incubating the infection?

I would ask him if he has had chicken pox himself. If the answer is yes then it is highly unlikely he will get it again and so is unlikely to be infectious. If the answer is no then he could be incubating the virus and so could be infectious.

Chicken pox is spread in the same way as a cold - from droplets from the nose or mouth. So for your DS to catch it, your neighbour would have to sneeze on him, share a cup or cutlery, or your DS would have to touch something that your neighbour had sneezed on and then touch his mouth.

Hope that helps.