Unidentifiable children's rash or something with a name?

[neolara]

My dd (aged 4) has got a blotchy rash all over her arms and legs. She has a fever and has also thrown up once.

Am slightly concerned because a child in her class has slapped cheek and I am 16 weeks pregnant. I don't think my dd's symptoms are particularly typical of slapped cheeck as she does not have red cheeks at the moment, but I wondered if anyone else had a view.

how is she in herself??

when did it start - how long has she had fver for?

this won't be diagnosable over the internet and there are hundreds of different viruses/bacterial infection that casue fever abnd a rash. however it is important to know whether she needs to be seen today by a doc - i would have a very low threshold for taking her.

I would call NHS direct

@neolara: is it a rash that disappears when the base of a glass is pressed over it?

Thanks for your replies.

Yes, the rash disappears when I pressed it, thank goodness.

She's fast asleep now so I'm reluctant to get her seen by a doctor this evening. There's an emergency GP service at the weekends, but I think it really is meant for when things are serious. If she's bad tomorrow, maybe I'll give them a call. She's only had a temperature since this morning and it's not too high, so I'm hoping it's just one of those kids' wierdy virus things that goes as soon as it comes. As someone who has been lucky enough to be ridiculously healthy, I always feel slightly fraudulent taking either myself or my children to see the GP.

Rash disappearing when pressed is good news

I would say your plan sounds very sensible, but worth taking her to GP asap next week; if only to let them know of your worries re your pregnancy. Concerns might alter depending on what develops in your DDs condition.

Bugger. She's got a definite red rash on her cheeks this morning. Looks increasingly likely that she has slapped cheek. Other rash on arms and legs has disappeared but she's still got a temperature and has thrown up again.

Hi neolara: sorry to hear that and it's probably a good idea to see your GP as soon as you can. They can have a look at your DD, and should take a blood sample from you and send for parvo B19 testing as a kind of baseline. Hopefully you will have only IgG (most likely there from a previous infection) and thus not at risk from catching it again; if that's what it is. If you're parvo IgG negative then they'll probably want another in about a month's time for comparison.

For exposure to a rash like this, your rubella status should also be investigated as well but you will have had this already tested on your booking blood. Rubella is really very unlikely to be the cause of your DD's illness but it needs checking out nevertheless.

Thanks Musukebba. I'm going follow your advice and take dd to the GP tomorrow. Hopefully it will just be a vomiting bug.

Please let us know how you get on...

Phew... Just heard from the GP that I'm immune to slapped cheek due to previous exposure.

Have been in a bit of a flap about it all as have had 4 miscarriages in the past and know that really crap things can happen. Not helped by telephone call with GP who told me that it was much better to get slapped cheek at my stage of pregnancy (16 weeks) rather that later because I would "only have a miscarriage. If you get it later you could have (insert long list of terrible things read out from a list, including premature birth and stillbirth)" GP appeared completely clueless about slapped cheek in general and didn't suggest looking at my dd to see whether she thought it might be this or something else. I forgot to ask about my rubella status but hopefully this info will come back with my other normal pregnancy blood tests. Poor dd still has a temperature but no vomiting or rash for a few days.

Thanks once again Musukebba for your help.

Hi neolara: thanks for letting us know and excellent news that you're immune to B19

Difficult to know where to begin with that poorly delivered advice you received about the timimg of B19 infection. There are all sorts of accumulated statistics, but for individual cases in real time there are certainly things a GP can do, starting with immediate and urgent referral to a regional fetal medicine unit.

Anyway thankfully now you can relax a little bit and nurse your poor little DD...

It is probably roseola, also called exanthem subitum. Roseola means "pink rash" and the other means "sudden rash". No joke. Usually appears suddenly after a baby has had a fever for 3 or more days. MD's think it's caused by a virus (virus meaning "we have no bloody clue what it is"), but, in speaking with a colleague who is a naturopathic physician, she told me it's more likely to be a bit of a reaction by the liver after 3 or more days of fever, because fever causes an increase in white blood cells, which then die, and are digested by the liver, which causes a bit of strain on the body, manifested as a rash.

I know all this only because my DS had it recently. Cue freaked out mother of PFB who ran to GP with him when the rash showed up.

Roseola infantum = exanthem subitum = 'sixth disease' and is caused by human herpesvirus 6 and 7. A simple bit of Googling will find this information.

That's an interesting naturopathic explanation for the rash. The traditional scientific view is that the rash is caused by the immune response to the viral infection; similar to what occurs in the rashes of parvovirus and rubella infections.

The majority of children usually get this disease before the age of 2 years.