AIBU? - Out with a child with chickenpox

My children and grandchildren were very miserable when they had chicken pox. That is not acceptable.

In Canada the vaccine is now part of the standard vaccination schedule. One dose is given at 12 months along with the MMR (it is now MMRV vaccine - measles, mumps, rubella, varicella, which is the medical term for chickenpox) and one dose is given at the pre-Kindergarten visit at 4-6 years.

I think the CP vaccine is not recommended because of possible side effects. For most children CP is an uncomfortable but not dangerous illness. Two of my grandchildren had it last year within a couple of weeks of each other. The older one, twenty months, was very ill with a secondary skin infection which needed large doses of antibiotics, and her baby cousin had just a few spots and wasn’t very ill at all-it’s hard to predict the course of the illness. I think a bit of fresh air and a change of scene in the park is a good idea, especially for the carer! My four had it in two weekly intervals over the course of a summer. Two months of it!

Drinking plenty of fluids may help to relieve the symptoms of mumps. Because mumps is viral, antibiotics cannot be used to treat it

Just wondering why you have been given antibiotics if it is indeed mumps and not cellulitis glammanana?

OK I feel vindicated as I took DGS for a walk around Cannon Hill Park nowhere near any small shops, lifts or cafes.

If a parent wanted to vaccinate their child against CP to avoid the inconvenience, distress etc then I wouldn’t blame them. I would pay the £40.

I read that the NHS didn’t offer the vaccine because of the cost. But who knows.

Anyone in a small shop or a cafe or sharing a lift could be in close proximity to a child with CP in a buggy. It is spread in many different ways including airborne particles.

Why spread any disease when it can be avoided? It's very selfish to do so.

The vaccine isn't recommended in the U.K. except for vulnerable people because it leads to a significant increase in cases of shingles.

blondenana Thanks for your kind comments,it has made me feel rather rotten to be honest all achy joints etc I am taking antibiotics for 5 days and should feel better once they start working.
I have warned my DCs to keep the little ones away even though they are all up to date with vaccinations.

A lot of people don’t know that children can get a vaccination against chicken pox- just not on the NHS - it costs £40-60 and you can get it at some pharmacies. Advise your children if they don’t know about this.

Who comes within a few feet of a total stranger’s child in a buggy ?

Chickenpox can be spread by exposure to droplets in the air, so anyone coming within a few feet of a child with chickenpox CAN potentially pick up the virus, if they are not immune.

As I said GrandmaJan my late DH. had a compromised immune system, was on immunosuppressants and very poorly recovering from sepsis, so I do understand about compromised immune systems. I had 20 years of having to take his compromised immune system into account and we coped.
When I had shingles some years previously he also had to follow a course of Acyclovir (anti- virals) as a precaution.
However, let’s not get hysterical about the risks of infection (not saying you are)
I got very irritated by whispers of “oh that looks like chickenpox”:when I took DGS1 out in his buggy on the occasion I was looking after him with chickenpox. I felt as if I was a plague carrier or the Angel of Death, while of course there was no risk whatsoever to anybody else from a 1 year old in a buggy.
Common sense, not old wives’ tales, that’s all.

My sister contracted Bell's Palsy through exposure to a child with CP. Her face never fully recovered as it was at a time when the hospital didn't know how to treat it properly.
It annoys me so much that society is so flippant when it comes to proper care and convalescence of all the childhood illnesses which risks outbreaks within communities and undermines how the actual child/patient feels with the illness as well.

As I said, I met her in town for a coffee, in a busy cafe, I had no idea she was bringing him in, when she mentioned it I was concerned about passing the virus onto any of the above mentioned vulnerable groups, in the end BIL took hime home and she continued shopping.

Regarding mumps, my daughter had mumps when she was 4 years old - it was pre MMR, I'm surprised I didn't get it because I'd never had or been vaccinated against it.

Mawbroonsback you are correct when you say anyone with CP shouldn’t be in contact with pregnant women but it is important to highlight it is women in the 3rd trimester of pregnancy. They aren’t the only group of people either. What about adults and children with low immunity and anyone having radio or chemotherapy & babies under a year. I’ve nursed babies who died of the virus. There are lots of misconceptions regarding CP such as someone contracting shingles from CP as I mentioned earlier. High risk patients can be vaccinated against this virus and it’s available privately.

It's not a great idea to take a child with CP out into the community. Apart from the risks to pregnant women and newborns, CP can be a killer if someone undergoing cancer treatment catches it - and it is a highly infectious disease.

It's also an unpleasant disease in adults. My sister-in-law caught it from her children and she was very poorly for some weeks. It took her a year to truly recover from the after-effects.

Mumps is having a resurgence for two reasons. One is that it is spreading in universities amongst youngsters whose parents didn't get the MMR due to the purported links to autism some 20 years ago. The other reason is that it is not a very effective vaccine anyway so the immunity conferred by the MMR is wearing off and adults are now becoming vulnerable to mumps.

Blondenana there have been several entirely unnecessary outbreaks of mumps and measles these days because of misguided and pigheaded parents who “think they know better” and fail to have their children immunised.

Just remembered that Virasoothe is really good for taking the itch out of chickenpox, too, and better than calamine lotion or cream
I had shingles 2 years ago, and was told about this,it is for chickenpox in children and comes in a spray as well as a gel, so no need to touch the spots
I used it for my rash and it was so cooling

Ironically, DGD came out in chickenpox within hours of visiting Paw in hospital on her third birthday.
He was in isolation be cause he had been admitted with sepsis and because he was on immunosuppressants.
DD was very worried about him, but as it turned out he suffered no ill effects from her chickenpox.
What he suffered on account of the cr*p nursing care that BH weekend is, as they say, another story ??

glammanana there is an outbreak of mumps at the moment.i have seen a few articles about it in the papers, and a Dr on "This Morning " was talking about it only yesterday,
I didn;t hear why this has happened all of a sudden there is a lot of it about just now
I remember having it as a child, hope you cant get it twice, and if i remember rightly it was said to be dangerous for boys to get as could make them infertile
I hope you feel better soon, not sure how long it lasts

People who have lower immune systems can become very poorly if in contact with the chicken pox virus. When I ran Pre-Schools the rule was that the child should stay at home until the last pox has scabbed over.

I would be more worried about the child than passing it on tbh. He may have not felt well enough to be traipsing through town? As chicken pox is infectious prior to the spots appearing there must be hundreds of people unknowingly exposed anyway but I do think it is a tad irresponsible to drag a poorly boy out. Don't fall out with your sister over it though, Oh and as has been said, you won't catch shingles through contact.

The NHS guidelines say that a child should be kept off school for a short while and that "Chickenpox is infectious from 1 to 2 days before the rash starts, until all the blisters have crusted over (usually 5 to 6 days after the start of the rash)."
If the child felt unwell, it was unfair to take him out in public. I can't see a problem with visiting someone's home (or them paying the visit) as long as the other person knows about the illness and is happy to be exposed to it.

As nearly everyone agrees, you ANBU at all. Far from it. I wonder if it's a hangover from being told that if children get it when they are young, it's usually mild and they even boasted of having CP parties to infect the lot.
Very irresponsible IMO to take the child out in public as it's highly infectious and very uncomfortable for the child.