How long does chickenpox last?

[PrettyCandles]

Dd went down with it last Tuesday and ds looks like he'll go down with it any day now (he was running a temperature yesterday). When are they likely to be clear?

once all the spots have come out and dried up then they are no longer infectious.they are infectious 1 or 2 days before the spots come out though!

But any idea how long that tends to be?

Takes around 5 -10 days for them all to appear and scab.

This is the advice from NHS direct:
The person is infectious from about two days before the rash appears until approximately five days after. It takes 11-20 days to develop symptoms after being in contact with the virus (the 'incubation period').
It is spread by direct contact with broken chickenpox blisters or by inhaling infected airborne droplets.
The rash takes the form of blisters, which burst and then scab over. Traditionally it was thought that the risk of passing on the infection was still there until the last blister had burst and scabbed. However, it is now recommend that children need only be excluded from school for just 5 days, as transmission has not been reported beyond day five of the rash.

But the spots and not being well may last longer.

Aloha - thank you! It never occurred to me to check NHSD as I've always found their telephone advice utterly useless!

But I wonder whether schools accept that new advice?

From what I hear from friends, I think they do - otherwise print off from NHS direct and go in waving it!
I first checked this when ds had it, but he's too little for school yet.

It depends on how many spots the child gets, my dd didn't get many and they were scabbed over on day 3 and she was no longer unwell so school had her back.