Slapped cheek again.

[admylin]

It looks as if dd is starting with slapped cheek again. She has had it atleast 4 times now. Does any one know how often this can come back?

She had shingles last year which was awful as she was in such pain and I'm wondering if it could be linked.

Any tips to try and cool it down? She is 10 so is mortified to go out with bright red cheeks too.

nhs choices seems to suggest that once you have had slapped cheek once you are immune to it again so are you sure what she has is slapped cheek?

4 times sounds quite odd. get gp to check as lots of skin conditions can cause red patches. Acne rosacea www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Rosacea/Pages/Symptoms.aspx]] is a possibility but there are loads of other conditions.

www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Rosacea/Pages/Symptoms.aspx
even

How much time between these attacks?

Only one of my children has had slapped cheek symptoms and I am pretty sure it basically came an went for several months. Since it is such an infectious disease, I imagine the rest of us had it but without any symptoms. That was 10 years ago and it hasn't reappeared in our family.

I thought you could only get it the once too.

Also isn't it contagious and (I think) it can be quite dangerous to pregnant women too, so should she be going out with it?

I seem to remember a pregnant teacher friend being sent up to London for tests because she had been in contact with a pupil suffering from it.

I wonder about this, because DS had slapped cheek about a year ago and now when he gets a bit hot (eg in the bath, or in the summer) he gets the distinctive cobweb rash on his upper arms. Weird.

My DD's rash always came back when she was hot. It didn't last a year though, but I agree the rash is very distinctive.

my DD (ho is 5) is displaying what I think is slapped cheek, although I;m sure she's had it. She woke up yesterday with huge red cheeks - I thought it might have been because she was out in the sun (albeit only April for a couple of hours ) she's been generally a bit snotty and has a cough over the last week and a bit. took her to Gp about cough - no infection or throat infection (at this point I hadn't seen the rash on her hands) this appeared at lunchtime but kind of faded by this afternoon. She is mightily tetchy and has had a couple of tantrums which is not like her. Sorry rambling just wondered if this sounded like slapped cheek? thanks

You do get a red face - unevely so, so it looks like a slap.
More characteristic is the lacy red rash on the torso, arms and legs. This means an area of solid red with a lacy edge. Sometimes it only shows up when the child is hot. My Dd wasn't I'll with it.

You can only get it once but the rash can stick around for months, often recurring with hot or cold temperatures. It is contagious & can cause problems for pregnant women BUT you are contagious BEFORE the rash appears (often when there are no symptoms at all or what seems to be a mild cold). Once the rash appears you're not contagious so totally fine to be out & about. It's usually a really mild illness in kids but can be unpleasant in adults with arthitis-like symptoms. But it's such a common childhood disease (aka Fifth Disease after mesles, mumps etc) that most adults have immunity.

admylin....it is very very rare to get recurrent slapped cheek.Unfortunately i am a walking encyclopaedia on this as it has made me very very ill as it remained chronically undiagnosed by my doctor for 3 years until a research unit saw my blood test results. Normally it is like the chicken pox virus in that you only get it once and then your body produces anti bodies to the parvo B19 virus. If you havent had it as a child(which is rare ) you can get it later in life which i did and i got it really seriously. I had to have intravenous immunoglobulins for 1 week in hospital. Are you absolutely sure it is parvo. Has she had a blood test to confirm as 4 times is highly unlikely, if not impossible.

i was in this clinical trial. DF] Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Arthralgia Following Parvovirus B19 ... File Format: PDF/Adobe

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sorry it didnt copy as it is a pdf format. I have done heaps of research into the disease

Thanks everyone. Well today dd is still showing red cheeks and felt so exhausted she has gone back to bed. She could hardly make it up the stairs.

Think we'll have to try and get some blood tests done. I'd also read that slapped cheek was a once only thing. The first time they had it itwa son their body too (ds had it at the same time) and the German doctor said it was 5th disease butthey both had it again a few months later. This was maybe 3 years ago though.

Alypaly, hope you're fully recovered now. Sounds as if it was really bad. A friend got chicken pox as an adult and she really suffered too.

How did you finally get to the bottom of it? Through the blood tests? What were they testing for though?

Hi admylin.....Im not too bad now...but get occasional flare ups.i finally diagnosed myself after 3 years of going rapidly downhill. Traced it back to when DS2 had it at primary school and also the school had a bit of an epidemic. Thankfully i wasnt pregnant as it can cause foetal death.It made me really ill...was on the borderline of suffering from CFS and ME.All my joints in hands,feet,hips and knees were so painful, my eyes went dry,scalp burned,face was constantly red and sore,sore abdomen,always knackered......thought i had cancer TBH. I have recently beeen told it can cause auto immune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis to flare up and am currently having tests for that as certain joint problems are happening at the mo. Saying that,i am still very active and will not let it get the better of me.
The docs were not really very helpful. They kept saying all my tests were fine so i eventually asked for a Parvo B19 blood test which is only done at certain hospitals and is the only way of confirming it conclusively. Lo and behold it cam back ,massively positive even after 3 years. Apparently the virus has gone into my bone marrow and will now constantly replicate ,so i will have to have regular transfusions of immunoglobulins for life, to mop up the virus.Thankfully i have never felt as ill as i did from 2000-2003 and i can now tell when it is coming back.(right now actually)With children, it does not normally go into their bone marrow as their system fights it. I believe i have a poor immune system and my body did not recognise it as a foreign body,so it allowed the virus to replicate without fighting it.It is classified as the 5th childhood disease and is often characterised by one red cheek...like a slap.
A friend of mine also had chicken pox at 35 and she was dreadfully ill with it too. She had had it very mildly as a child.

If you think they have parvo, ask for the specific test.

Thanks for that info alypaly. It's true, if you go and ask for a blood test it's good to know what they should test for.

Dd is feeling abit better today thank goodness. Do you think your symptoms flare up more when you are under stress?

no,they seem to be seasonal....october to april.....a bit like some rheumatoid auto immune type diseases. Stress may play a part but i havent really noticed.