Chicken Pox

[miss_teacher]

If you knew your unvaxxed child was exposed to chicken pox, would you continue on like normal and go to your activities and classes until you knew for sure she had contracted chicken pox? Or would you sequester yourself at home during the period where your child might also be contagious, yet before any pox show

Comments

[suidae]

I don't have kids, so I can't really say what I would do...but...

When I was a kid, my mom made sure I was exposed to chicken pox. She had me play with the other kids in kindergarden who had it, and then when I showed signs she kept me at home. I'm glad for that, since I'm older now and don't have to worry about it. But really, if your kid isn't showing signs of the pox why keep them away from daily activities?

[miss_teacher]

Because they are contagious 2 days before any signs appear :( And those signs can appear 10 days after exposure or up to 21!! So I'd rather not stay home the whole time, but I don't know if I will be irresponsible if I take her out after she is exposed.

Kids nowadays get vaccinated for chicken pox, but we'd rather her get it naturally.

[suidae]

Do parents now try to avoid chicken pox exposure (lol, again, I'm not a parent and neither are any of my friends)? I grew up before the vax (apparently, since I had no clue there was one, lol), and most of the parents I was around had the "lets get 'em all sick" mentality. I'm not sure if that's irresponsible, but tbh, if I had a kid that came down with because someone else's kid was exposed, I wouldn't be upset.

[miss_teacher]

I think the vaccine has only been around for the last 10 years? It's pretty new. I didn't even know there was one until I started teaching 7 years ago.

So now, the majority of parents get the vaccine. It's required for schools (although there are exemptions depending on where you live) unless the child has had chicken pox naturally. So it's harder to get it naturally since most kids are vaccinated and you cannot always find kids with it. I guess it depends on where you live and how large your unvaxxed or selectively vaxxed children's population is.

I guess I just don't know the etiquette of what people do after they attend a pox party (where people go over to someone's house to get exposed on purpose).

[taste_is_sweet]

I don't know if this will help you, but this is what I'm aware of:

Chicken Pox vaccines are only about 75% effective at best, so there are some parents who actually have 'chicken pox parties', where they purposely expose their young children to the disease so that they'll get it with the mild symptoms while they're young and less likely to be badly affected by it.

That said, I DO NOT KNOW about how dangerous it might be for babies to be infected, nor do I know about pregnant mothers, though I am almost certain that having Chicken Pox when you're pregnant is very, very bad. (As in, permanently damaging to the fetus.)

So, long comment short, unless you are certain that your child won't infect a kid who will take the disease home to their baby sister or their pregnant mom, I would at least find out from a doctor (or online) how long a child is contagious for, and keep them away from other kids until after that point.

Again, I haven't researched this, I'm just going on what I think I remember. :)

[miss_teacher]

Good point! I wasn't thinking about super young babies or pregnant woman.

The annoying part is your child is contagious before showing any signs, and you cannot get confirmation your child has chicken pox from a doctor until a few days into the reaction anyhow. So by then she has been contagious for many days.

Natural immunity seems to be stronger than the vaccine, which is what I would prefer for my daughter, and most likely to last a lifetime so she won't need boosters like other children.

[chrisloy]

Speaking as a woman has never had the chickenpox, please keep the kiddo at home. In adults chicken pox can be deadly. When I was pregnant, the doctor looked at me like I had grown a third head (second to the kiddo's) when doing the questionnaire and I said I had never had chicken pox.
Aside from other various reasons, I got confined to the house because there was an outbreak in the area.
The idea of losing my unborn child or dying myself due to my weakened state, was deeply disturbing.

[freyaw]

*nods* When m'sister and I got it as teenagers, we were quarantined from my Dad who has still never had it. Well, as quarantined as you could get while still all living in the same house.

[miss_teacher]

It can be pretty dangerous to get as an adult. That sucks you had to go through that.

[thenextcentury]

By the time I was 17, I'd still not had the chicken pox, so my doctor gave me the vaccines.

[miss_teacher]

If my daughter doesn't catch it by age 8 I'll definitely get the vaccine for her, if I haven't had her get it already. For now she hadn't had it. But I wouldn't wait until she's a teenager.

[littlravn]

No, I would not stay home. I would try to stay away from close contact with anyone that is <3mos old but its ok to expose everyone else because they've either already had it, been vaxxed, or need to catch it, and if they are so immunosuppressed that something like that will kill them dead within hours their dr should have already instructed those people not to leave the house.

If visiting friends that are immunosuppressed, warn them of the possibility or change your trip to another time.
Can be contagious long before symptoms arrive.
And chicken pox are not always easy to catch, even if exposed, if you have a good immune system. So you could potentially expose your children 10 times before they actually catch it and that is a LOT of staying home just to be on the safe side.

[miss_teacher]

Hmm crap. My daughter's immune system is pretty darned good!

[freyaw]

*nods* I was exposed multiple times as a child, to the point that my family thought I had had it and they'd just not noticed due to the symptoms being mild.

Then someone was very very very infectious during performance week for my high school's annual musical. Everyone who hadn't had it and was connected to anyone who was there who didn't quarantine themselves the moment they heard got it. I was in the musical. My sister coached a team of people who were in the musical. The teacher conducting the orchestra got it. Dad quarantined himself and had no contact with us kids until we'd finished being infectious and didn't.

[dantesmom]

I agree with this comment. I think normal exposure is okay, and that you should do your best to limit very close contact with anyone you don't know is okay with the possibility of being exposed.

[yangming]

If you know that your child has been exposed, then it is your responsibility to stay home. It would be irresponsible to spread the disease regardless of your (and other poster's) views about vaccination. Some adults haven't had it and it can be quite a serious disease in adults.

[miss_teacher]

Very true. Because of that it makes more sense to not go to public places, like stores, where adults without immunity might be.

Although if an adult has not had it and is working with kids (like at pre-school or art class, etc) wouldn't they get the chicken pox vaccination for themselves to be safe? I cannot imagine a teacher who has never had it not trying to get immunity from the shot.

And you would want the child to stay home from playdate even if all the other child were vaccinated and the adults had immunity?

[wolfden]

My mother-in-law has never had it. She's 62.

she has worked with kids all along and still never caught it.

There was a reason they wouldn't give her the vax. I don't recall what it was. Something to do with Shingles perhaps.

[miss_teacher]

Maybe because of her age?

Although I have read that some people develop immunity from being exposed even though they never developed the disease (or at least saw the rash). So some people get a blood test to see if they have immunity.

You can only get shingles if you have had chicken pox, since it comes from the same virus. I forget if you can get Shingles later in life from the shot, but I think so. So maybe they wanted to avoid that chance later on.

Maybe she has an amazing immune system!!!