Chickenpox or bed bugs

[ChickenPox7]

DS(4) has 5 or 6 red, slightly raised, spots. Pharmacist said it looked like chicken pox. One of his friends had chickenpox at nursery a week or two ago, so I thought that made sense.

However we're currently staying in an Airbnb, it's very clean but there are a lot of soft furnishings/old fashioned rugs everywhere and I'm now freaking out that maybe they are bedbug bites.

Also just found this (pic) in a corner. Are they dead bedbugs/ bedbug shells?

I've had CBT and trying to keep to the facts: spots are not in a line or cluster, and they are mostly on chest so not on exposed bits of skin when asleep, there has been chickenpox at nursery, at lunchtime DS said he was going to bed and didn't want to eat so not quite his usual self.... It's most likely to be chickenpox right?

Struggling to keep my anxiety in check, kids have had clothes lying around on beds and floor, suitcases left open and now thinking I want to chuck all our belongings before we get home to make sure we don't bring bedbugs into our house. Arghh

They don’t look like bedbugs, but it is hard to tell quite what they are, can you get a close up ?
It is the right time of year for Chicken Pox, so that seems more likely but of course something could have bitten him - Cp makes little fluid filled bumps, rather like blisters. It doesn’t quite look like bites, as they are no central piecing points, just a red bump which then blisters.

I experienced bedbugs frequently as a backpacker - as you say the bites tend to be in a line and remember them being on arms, legs and feet rather than less exposed parts of the body. They were also intensely itchy.
I think you will know shortly as if cp the blistery spots will come out very quickly.
Hope little one is feeling better soon x

Thank you. The spots are very spaced out, very far from each other, and all on the parts of his body that had two layers of clothing (abdomen and back). Hopefully the situation will be clearer in the morning, just need to find a way to sleep until then!

If bedbugs, I will be back for tips @glitterheart! I didn't know they existed until recently and ignorance was bliss! Seems to be one of the main things I focus my anxiety on these days.

Oh, and he's not had any itchiness for now, so quite odd!

When did they first appear? In my experience chicken pox spread quickly and he would be covered after a day or two. It sounds like an unusual spot for bed bugs (normally round ankles/wrists) so I think I’d discount them.

@SirVixofVixHall I can't seem to get a better pic. We are in the middle of nowhere surrounded by nature so there are a few bugs/ants/ladybirds in the house and even had a visit from a lizard ! So hoping its just something random. One of the spots looks to me like it has a bit of a central piercing point but hard to tell as DS won't stay still long enough for me to take a good look!

Thanks @TheGriffle that's reassuring! I think they all appeared today as I didn't notice any when he had his bath yesterday. They were so red today they were impossible to miss.

Bed bugs are often in the seams of mattresses. Have a look.

Might be lizard poo actually ! Or the remnants of things from a spider. Are you abroad ?
I don’t think those are bedbugs though can’t rule out something else biting, eg a mosquito.
If there are more spots tomorrow, then more the next day, then almost certainly chicken pox.

Yes we are abroad but in Europe, so nowhere particularly exotic. We are near a river though so I suppose that makes mosquitoes a possibility.

Only two more spots this morning, a couple of them now have a small pocket with clear fluid in them, so I think it's probably chickenpox. He is feeling absolutely fine this morning thankfully, just said he was a bit hot in the night, but now devouring his breakfast as usual and not scratching.

My little boy had chicken pox at Christmas and wasn’t particularly itchy so it’s not always. The GP said sometimes younger ones don’t get itchy for some reason