what's the general mn consensus on keeping kids of school with impetigo?

[lucykate]

dd started with what just looked like a spot last week, which has spread to almost 1" across on her cheek. just been to doctors this morning and it is impetigo.

the school say, there have been a few cases of it, and those children already affected were kept off, but as dd started with this last week, the doctor says she is ok to be in school as it isn't weeping, so not contagious anymore, (embarrassingly, she was more likely to have passed it on last week when we didn't know what it was than now )

do i need to keep her off any longer?, anyone else's dc's got/had impetigo?, we've not had this before, been very lucky with dd, she didn't even get nappy rash as a baby.

sorry, just noticed my thread title, off not of

All I know is it is very infectious. I would ask the school what their policy is.

Don't they say something like 24 hours after you've started antibiotics that it's stopped being contagious. Or maybe it's 48. Sorry I'm hopeless. The school will have a policy I'm sure.

i thought you had to keep them home til the scabs dried up??

she hasn't been given antibiotics, just cream, and the doc said the cream will start working straight away, and that there should be a noticeable improvement within 24-48 hours.

i spoke to the headmistress earlier, and the school don't seem to have a policy as such for impetigo, she just said they were happy to take the doctors advice.

i just don't want other mums scowling at me in the playground if i take her back in tomorrow. she's fine in herself, i asked her if the sore on her face bothered her and she said, 'what sore?'

see, thats the thing, as she's already had it for 6 days, the scabs are already dried up

when ds1 had it the advice then was from 24 hours after you start treatment.

the scabs drying up thing is chicken pox i think

NHS direct here

hmm, nhs direct says keep them off for 48 hours after treatment has started, which would mean staying off till wednesday, so maybe i will keep her off till then

bugger, am going on my first mn meet up tomorrow, suppose i could take her with me and quarantine her in a corner

hi lucykate - poor dd

right i'm a c/m and have the health protection agency advice in my hand!!!

impetigo - recommended exclusion from school c/m or nursery - until lesions are crusted or healed - antibiotic treatment by mouth may speed healing and reduce infectious period

H T H

my ds has just had this again and I sent him in. Its a flipping nightmare though.

thanks vv, lesions are crusted, so i guess she should be ok to go in tomorrow, i think nhs direct advice can be a bit over cautious. daft really, as school is where she got it from in the first place, no-one else at home has it, ...yet!

my dd daughter had it when she was in reception - i thought it was just a spot but it was irritating her so i put a plaster on it and took her to school and went off to work - by the time my friend picked her up it was bigger than the plaster and weeping and so sore she was in tears - unfortunately it grew and grew to the size of a large non stick dressing and she would scream the house down when i had to change her dressing - before this she was always a very brave little "soldier" afterwards she was very different

BUT no-one else in the household caught it - just have to remind them about hand washin' and nose pickin'(as that's were the bug lives - i think)

I had it when I was about... 5 ish I think and I went to school with it, if that helps!

dh had it as a child, right under his nose, he said everyone at school kept saying to him, 'you've got a big bogey hanging from your nose!'