I think DS has ringworm - do I get him ready for school tomorrow or not?

[wassername]

Does anyone know if schools ask you to keep kids at home when they have ringworm? I'll take him to the Dr anyway but would be handy to know in advance whether to turn up at school with him or not. Anyone know the answer?

Yes they do ask you to keep your child off. Go to the Dr first and get the medication. They may let him in once he's using the prescribed cream.

Do you mean ringworm? That's not the bottom one, that's actually a skin fungus which makes rings of dry looking skin.

The itchy bum one is threadworms. Very common in primary age kids. You get a pill in the chemist (Ovex) and then get him to wear pants at night, wash all the bed linen and cut finger nails to avoid the eggs spreading. Be extra diligent about hand washing and you should be able to get rid of them no problem.

Nhs direct says this:
Once treatment has begun, there is no need for children with ringworm to be excluded from school.

Certainly my dd went to school with ringworm and they were fine about it.

By the way - I had no idea that ringworm is not actually a worm, but a fungal infection. Darn foolish name for it, if you ask me!

Thanks everyone - yes, it is ringworm rather than tapeworm. It looks almost like a blister from a burn - a small white round patch with a red ring around it on the back of his neck. I looked it up in a medical directory and I was glad to see it wasn't really a worm - it's the same fungal infection that causes athlete's foot apparently. I guess I'll keep him off school long enough to get to the Dr for some cream. Tesco will just have to wait!

They had ringworm at my dc's school recently. You kept seeing children around with the tell-tale mark on their neck, and could guess the school they were at. The nursery ended up being closed for a day so they could do a deep clean.

I went to the pharmacist who sold me some canestan antifungal cream, and told me if it did not clear up go to Drs. It cleared up with twice daily application and no days off school.
Canestan is an antifungal cream as pidge said its a fungus not a worm
I kept dd in a long sleeve top to keep it covered up it was at the top of her arm.

Yes that's the one. DH has had it, only he left it for years thinking it was some kind of excema. Eventually it was picked up by accident by a medical professional and so far gone he has had to have an aggressive form of treatment for which he was required to take a liver function test before begining.

Well done for catchng it in time. You'll probably just be OK with the cream.

There is no good reason for keeping them off school unless you want to, as it doesn't cause any health hazard. I had ringworm for about a year and then it went away on it's own. It's just one of those childhood things (like head lice, veruccas or athletes foot).

You only need the chemotherapy approach if it's very widespread, and particularly if it's on your head, which is harder to treat topically. You can also have chemotherapy for athletes foot if it gets into your toenails btw, but it's not as scary as it sounds!

The book I used says "these infections can be acquired from other people, animals, soil, shower floors, or household objects such as chairs or carpets" - having read the comment about the nursery needing a deep clean I'm curious as to whether I need to do anything to prevent it getting passed to the other kids (and me and dh I suppose). Not sharing towels comes to mind, but anything else? (Take it as read that we will all stop rolling around on the shower floor as of right now)

My DH had his for around two years and no-one else caught it so I don't think it's all that catching. I believe it needs to get into cracks in skin in order to take root.

I caught mine from dd, but no-one else got it. I wonder if it's one of those things only some people are vulnerable to?

From DOH guidelines
" Conditions where there is no recommended period to be kept away from school (once the child is well)

influenza; cold sores (HSV); molluscum contagiosum; ringworm (tinea); athlete's foot; hand, foot and mouth disease; roseola; slapped cheek disease (parvovirus); warts and verrucae; conjunctivitis; glandular fever; head lice; non-meningiococcal meningitis; thread worm; tonsillitis "

For goodness sake it is common childhood infection CAN take months to clear back to school ...