Mindee has got chicken pox

[hbomb1]

One of my term time only mindees have got chicken pox. Bumped into mum on Friday and she told me that mindee only got spots the day before (i.e. Thursday). I said oh so I prob won't see her next week and mum replied, what all week? Said I would check my policy and get back to her (I was stopped at side of road, so couldn't chat).

Child is due here on Tuesday afternoon and Thursday afternoon, and I don;t know whether I should have her or not. Thinking back to when my children had it a couple of years ago, they had a week and half nearly two weeks off school. I have not encountered CP whilst childminding and so I don't really know what to do.

Should I take the child as normal, if she is feeling well, or do I wait until the spots have started to scab over?

Would appreciate some advice.

Thank you,

[ORKSIE]

It depends on whether other mindees have had it or not, and your own children, you have to consider shingles too.
Personally i would wait till spots have covered.
But thats my opinion, someone else may have a better idea.

[Nikki's stars]

One of my mindees came out with chicken pox on thursday last week - I said to mum that I wouldn't have her back until all the spots had scabbed over!

Nikki x

[FussyElmo]

I wait for all the spots to scab over too

[littletreasures]

First - You can't get shingles from chickenpox.
Second - It states in the Guidance on Infection Control (http://www.hpa.org.uk/web/HPAwebFile.../1194947358374) that the child should be kept away for 5 days from the onset. With this in mind you can say you can't have them on the Tuesday pm but you should really have them back on the Thursday pm.

I have a mindee who is term time only and went down with chickenpox the first Wednesday of the holidays. We are now waiting for his sister to go down with it but I will not exclude her in the meantime.

Hope this helps

[ORKSIE]

Oh Ok, I thought an adult could get Shingles from the chicken pox virus, Sorry

[littletreasures]

I thought an adult could get Shingles from the chicken pox virus, Sorry

Please don't be sorry. I thought you could as well until my son got shingles when he was 12 and I took him to the doctor.

Found this information about shingles and chickenpox.

What is shingles?

Shingles is a painful rash caused by the Varicella zoster virus (Herpes varicellae), which is the virus that causes chickenpox . Shingles occurs in people who have had chickenpox and is a reactivation of the dormant virus. Shingles often occurs many years after the initial chickenpox infection. Shingles is contagious and may itself cause chickenpox. However, contact with a person with shingles or chickenpox cannot cause shingles.

What causes shingles?

After the chickenpox virus has been contracted, it travels from the skin along the nerve paths to the roots of the nerves where it becomes inactive. The chickenpox virus then 'hibernates'. When the virus is reactivated, it travels via the nerve paths to the skin. It is not known what factors trigger a reactivation of the virus. Shingles generally affects the elderly, but occasionally occurs in children who have had chickenpox within the first year of their lives and in people with an immune deficiency.


So you can get chickenpox from shingles but not the other way round.

Anyone of any age can get shingles too. My son was in a lot of pain with shingles. He had it all round his shoulder and down his chest on one side.

[ORKSIE]

Thanks for that
You learn something new everyday, especially on this forum

[hbomb1]

Many thanks for all your replies. Will advise the mum to keep mindee at home until all spots have scabbed over (yuk!).

[jibberjitz]

I would do the same, wait until fully scabbed