What on earth is this??

[neverbeenskiing]

A few days ago I noticed that DS 6 had a couple of spots on his back. I thought maybe insect bites. Since Friday more new spots have appeared each day, some on his arms, wrists, a couple on his hip, one on his tummy and one on his face.
He has been snotty and had a bit of a cough since Friday but has been eating, drinking and playing normally. He doesn't seem upset or anything.

He had chicken pox as a baby (about 5 months old), a very mild dose caught off his sister.

I called the GP this morning, they didn't want to see DS in person but asked me to send pictures. He said he doesn't think it's chicken pox as DS had it before. He said it could be eczema, but then said "it's probably viral". I got the impression he had no idea tbh. He said if DS feels well in himself fine to send him to school tomorrow. DS has just shouted me from his bed to say he thinks he can feel some new spots in his armpit. I had a look and sure enough there are several new spots that definitely weren't there earlier today.

Anyone have any idea what the hell this could be, and should I really be sending him into school?
Pic attached

Eldest has had chicken pox 3 times. 2nd and third time they tested as he'd had it before.

Looks like chicken pox to me as well. If the first case was mild then it’s definitely likely.

Im another whose dc had a mild dose when small but then caught it properly at 8. I don’t think it’s very uncommon something to do with having partial immunity from maternal antibodies which wanes over time.

Id just keep an eye and see how they develop.

The fact that he only had a very mild dose of chicken pox as a baby and that they are coming in waves makes me think he’s got it again. It’s really common (happened to my youngest).

On bed bugs - I thought that they were bites in a line?

I’ve just googled. Can be in a line or a cluster. But I’d still go with CP given the sore throat before the spots.

It looks like chicken pox. They can get it twice, especially if the first time was very mild.

Looks like chicken pox. Sounds like chicken pox given the rate and locations they are appearing. Keep him off school until they ooze and dry up. He will be highly contagious until then.

The GP said "it doesn't look like chicken pox", he mentioned that if it was cp the spots would be full of fluid which they don't seem to be. I think im going to have to get a second opinion.

Just to reassure having had bed bugs a few years ago (awful things) those don’t look anything like bed bug bites to me - they don’t tend to come up in raised spots and are much larger and flatter. Also would expect gradual build up over a few days / weeks, not so many at once. So hopefully that’s at least reassuring on that - hope you get an answer as to the cause and your DS feels better soon x

Looks and sounds precisely like chicken pox. You can get it twice, particularly if first time was under 1✔️ also particularly if first time was mild ✔️ surprised GP didn’t mention that!

I agree with pp that it might be folliculitis. My DD had it chronically for a couple of years (it would come and go). Eventually she was referred to a paediatrician, who figured it out.

It looks like chickenpox and quite a lot of spots. You can’t send him to school like that! Probably best to insist GP sees the spots or ask a pharmacist and take it from there. Most schools have a policy re infectious diseases but generally they are infectious till last spot crusts over.

It's chickenpox. I've had it twice, as a child and as an adult.

I think chicken pox too because of the sore throat etc. and spots typically start on the torso. It really doesn’t sound like bed bugs. A day or so, and you’ll know if the spots crust over like chicken pox or not

I agree that it sounds lije Chicken Pox. DS’s spots took 6 days to come out.

I suspect you’ll know one way or the other today. I’ve had the half a dozen spots is it / isn’t it and then within 24 hours they have hundreds and develop those tell tale fluid filled heads. If not

We’ve just got over molloscum after around a year of it so I know the spot well and they don’t look l like it. The same child also had chicken pox at around 4 months and it was doing the rounds at nursery recently. He developed some spots sporadically on his torso but they disappeared after a couple of days so I suspected he caught it again after a mild case first time round

It doesn’t look like chicken pox or molloscum to be. Or bed bugs which I think are normally redder and in lines. I would try to see a pharmacist as PP suggested.

Boots have a free rash checker on their website, what does it suggest if you feed that photo in?

It suggested Hives, scabies, folliculitis, insect bites or molluscum contagiosm. Then I put a different photo of the spots in (taken the same day) and it suggested other things including eczema. I've googled and the spots don't really look like any of them to me.

It could be chicken pox but from the photo, they don’t look very pus filled. Are they in ‘real life’? Also, have you heard if chicken pox is going around his class/school right now? I wouldn’t be sending him in until you’ve had someone look at them.

The spots look a bit smaller and less red/inflamed this morning. There's no new spots since the ones he showed me last night.

No pus or fluid oozing or anything like that. He says they're not itchy. I'm at work today but planning on taking everything out of his room, stripping his bed and searching for evidence of bed bugs with a torch when I get home tonight.

The only other thing I wondered about was fleas. We have cats and they do like to sleep on his bed. The rest of us haven't been bitten though.

My cat has fleas once, my ex got loads of bites but I didn't get any. We lived together and slept in the same bed!

Hmmm could be that then. We usually treat them very regularly but it's been a while for various reasons. Will get some stuff from the vets today.