Unidentified toddler spots

[ChoccyJules]

Hi All,

am new today so hope I get the posting etiquette right!

My 21 month old has spots which I can't identify and typically we are supposed to be at a family do tomorrow so I am wondering if she's infectious.

I don't think it's chicken pox as she's not itchy or unwell with it. We saw a friend 10 days ago whose son subsequently went down with hand, foot and mouth but my daughter doesn't seem to have any mouth sores and nothing on her palms or soles of her feet.

We thought they were insect bites but now aren't so sure - they are red and bite-size but don't trouble her at all. She has about ten in total, on her face, hands and arms.

Any ideas would be very useful - it's Saturday so can't get to GP. NHS direct said it could be measles as she had a cough last weekend - but this rash clearly isn't that!

Thank you for any help.

My DS has chicken pox, he hasn't seemed unwell with it at all or even tried to scratch them. He only had a few then overnight he was covered in them. It hasn't bothered him in the slightest.

Not sure but DS1 (3.10) had checken pox and I had thought it was insect bites for a couple of days. He wasn't unwell either. I took him to the chemist's and asked the pharmacist to advise - she said it was chicken pox. DS2 (22 months) and DD (5 months) subsequently got it but had the very recognisable chicken pox spots - they didn't really itch though.

Hmm...Sounds like the 'pox to me! Was she under the weather at all last week? The spots usually appear after they have seemingly recovered from a very mild cold or similar, generally they feel OK by the time the spots actually come out.

You'll probably know tomorrow; if it is chickenpox there will be a lot more spots, probably on the torso.

could it be Henoch-Schonlein-Purpura? My friends dd had this and it was just a few spots on her legs like insect bites but she wasn't unwell.

Ooh, the last suggestion looks nasty - she really doesn't have bruising or other of those sypmtoms though.

Maybe it is the Pox. In which case aren't they infectious until they scab over - these spots really don't look like they'll ever be doing that?!

They certainly look like insect bites when they start off, but they get little blisters on the top, which break and eventually scab. It's the blisters which are full of virus, so yes, you have to wait until they have dried up.

Or maybe you just have an attack of mozzies!

It does look nasty (esp if you google images) but friends dd only had a few spots. She took her to GP because they appeared very quickly from no where and she new they weren't bites and it was friday afternoon on a bank holiday weekend. She wasn't ill at the time. I've had 2 dcs with chickenpox and I can't remember what they look like when it starts .

Argh, will see how they look tomorrow.

We're going to ring the party host to check no pregnant folk are coming.