Any one any advice on impetigo please

[forestfly]

My four year old ds has developed impetigo, been put on Antibiotics and told not to go to school all week. I was just wondering what this quarantine involves. Can we all not leave the house? I have washed the towels and sheets does this stop it developing to 2yr ds and me? Anyone had any experience of this ? Thankyou any advice would be greatly appreciated ( as always )

taken from the BMA a-z of family health:-a highly contagious skin infection that usually occurs around the nose and mouth.Impetigo is caused bybacteria entering the skin through a broken area such as a cut,cold sore or an area Affected by exzema.

SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS:-the skin reddens and small fluid filled blisters appear on the surface.the blisters tend to burst leaving moist weeping areas underneath,the released fluiddries to leave honey coloured crusts on the skin. The infected area may spread at the edges or another patch may develop nearby.In severe cases there may be swelling of the lymph nodes in the face or neck accompanied by fever.

TREATMENT:- antibiotic drug in tablet or ointment form usually clears up the problems in about 5 days.any loose crusts should be gently washed off with soap and water and the area dabbed dry.To prevent transmission of the infection,pillowcases,towels and face clothes should not be shared and should be bolied after use.children should not touch infected skin and should stay away from school till the infection clears.

A bit long but hope this sheds some light for you.
LOOBIExxx

worth looking at nhsdirect.nhs.uk too

Thanks for writing all that down loobie! Ill go and look at NHS Direct KR Thankyou both!

Hi forestfly, my son developed impetigo on his face the week before we were due to go on holiday to centerparcs. I asked the gp if it meant he couldn't go swimming and she said it would be ok - so I think not leaving the house sounds a bit drastic! I did wonder about her advice but we did take him swimming. The holiday wouldn't have been the same otherwise. (Hope this doesn't cause a deluge of outrage!)

Dd had impetigo when she was at pre-school, the rest of the family didn't catch it and so carried on as normal. Dd went back to pre-school after 3 days using some cream and antibiotics.

Good luck it's not easy having them at home when they don't feel ill!

Yes dd has had it twice.
First time dd caught it from a friend's ds who was COVERED in it. she was slow to take action and the whole family got it! DD had a little bit on her shoulder and I went into overdrive as I knew it was very contagious(sp). I washed her towels and sheets everyday for a week. Cleaned door handles/loo handles 100 times a day. She had anitbiotic cream. it was hard work but no one else got it, so I felt quite plaesed with myself.

Second time - we'd just arrived in France for 2 weeks! french GP gave antibiotic tablets and cream. I went to the launderette everyday for about the first 3 days then got p---ed off with it. We couldn't go swimming in the sea nor the pool which was a BIG pain. But again no one else caught it.

We didn't stay away from others as her impetigo was on her shoulder the first time and the top of her leg the second. It is only contagious when there's skin to skin contact. So if you're careful you should be OK.

Good luck.

Sorry thing are so sh---y for you at the mo.

hi forest,dd had it last winter, got the virus through her nose because after a cold it was so sore from blowing it,the doctor told me it was the first 3 days that was contagious,hope your ds gets better soon

Thanks All

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Two kids in our class had it recently. One was kept off for 3 days, the other only for 24 hrs, both on the advise of their GP's...We had a really funny letter from the mum of 24 hrs boy, warning us that impetigo was extremely contagious and not to let the other kids touch him!

Its clearing up already, I have washed the sheets and towels and made sure there's no sharing of cups etc. Its actually on his face, mouth and nose so unless he goes to school in a balaclava its out of the question to keep him covered. I haven't washed my door handles or anything like that, sorry . I also thought if i took him out this afternoon he could play if nobody touched him. I wanted to take him to a ball pool thats probably bad though! Nobody will see us we should have a big red cross on the door. So many contradicting messages make you wonder how bad it actually is. Thanks for all the posts though

ff Imo not that bad, a bit of a pain but only a couple of days left, I'm glad that it's starting heal up. I too didn't clean everything frantically and as I said the rest of us were fine. Dd had it on her face too in the areas that you described, the problem I had was making sure that she didn't pick at it and spread it futher. No advice on how to stop that I just begged, moaned and shouted about it until the impetigo had cleared up.

I hope that things get better for all of your family very soon (today if possible).

My children have had impetigo, too. The latest advice from school was to keep them off for 48hrs after antibiotic treatment had started but they could go back after that. I used a clean towel every day and clean pj's but didn't do anything else, hygiene-wise. We never had cross-infections, they each seemed to develop it out of the blue at different times - very bizarre! Glad your ds is getting better.

I was told by French GP that once you've had it you're more prone to it. Wonderful!!!

Sorry Bron