Chicken Pox - once the spots are out they aren't contagious are they ?

Yesterday we went for Sunday lunch.  Two children, that we don't know, were playing with Zoe.  They were all having lots of fun and enjoying themselves.  It wasn't until their parents took them away for their lunch that I noticed that both of them were absolutely covered in spots.  It looked very like chicken pox. 

H had a bit of a panic and wasn't too impressed, but I seem to recall that once the spots are out they aren't contagious.  Please tell me I'm right.

Once completely dried up, no it's not contagious, but if not dried up then yes, it is IIRC. Hope they are okay!

Oh dear, I didn't get a close enough look to see if they were dried up.  Surely you wouldn't take your children to a restaurant and let them play with a baby if they were contagious ??? Or are there some people out there who are that stupid ?

She was exposed to it when she was about 10 weeks old, her twin cousins came out in spots the day after they were playing with her but she didn't actually get it. 

The spots need to blister and crust to be non-contagious and this usually takes 10-14 days after they appear. That is why most nurseries don't take them back for 2 weeks after the first spots appear.  They are also contagious a day before spots even appear, so often you can be exposed without even knowing it.

T got chicken pox when he was 16 months and I am so pleased it is over with.

I would hope they weren't contagious, but you won't know, sorry!

S had a playdate with a friend last Tuesday who had dried up spots so I was fine with that (though unfortunately his sister now has the pox so who knows if we will have it). In any case, because children are infectious even before they have the spots (hey thanks Mother Nature) for all we know our children could be exposed even by healthy looking children, so I think we just have to take this as it comes.

I certainly don't regret the playdate, S had a ball and I'm just hoping she missed out on the pox.

Sorry meant to ask how old is Zoe?

She's one Loulou.

I suppose we just have to wait and see.  It's a 2 week incubation period isn't it ? 

sadly yes there are people that stupid out there.  With an imunosuppressed child this is a nightmare.  Thankfully she's had the vaccine.

I'd just keep an eye on zoe and see what happens over the next 2 or 3 weeks.

I think the incubation period can be up to 3 weeks so it's often very difficult to know where it came from

This page is quite useful...

http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/chickenpox/Pages/Introduction.aspx

Sparkling, does this mean we can't meet up with you ?  Do I need to keep Zoe away from you and E ?

I just know she's going to get it becasue we are meant to be going on holiday and if it's 3 weeks then that's perfect timing for when we should be going away. 

I think it can take up to 21 days to appear.  Some people are so selfish aren't they? It really winds me up. I kept T in isolation for 2 full weeks (and to me that includes restaurants, supermarkets etc) as there was no way I was going to expose anyone who didn't want to be exposed and also the risk to pregnant ladies who hadn't had the virus too.

Having said all that, provided number 2 is healthy I will definitely be trying to get it over with.

Keep an eye out for bright red raised spots, that spread quite quickly.  The first sign that T had it was he slept through the night from 7pm until 7.30am (no bad thing but was surprising) and was completely off his food. 

jelly baby:

Sparkling, does this mean we can't meet up with you ?  Do I need to keep Zoe away from you and E ?

I just know she's going to get it becasue we are meant to be going on holiday and if it's 3 weeks then that's perfect timing for when we should be going away. 

you can still meet with me and allegedly E as she's been vaccinated.  So we can still do coffee/ tea/ cake no point hanging around just in case.

I hope she doesn't get it.

Oh good.  I didn't know there was a vaccination for chicken pox.  Is it just given to special little girls ?

jelly baby:

Oh good.  I didn't know there was a vaccination for chicken pox.  Is it just given to special little girls ?

Yes just special awkward ones who have been on lots of steroids.  It's widely used in the states i believe but not so much here.  I seem to remember it's only effective for so long or something like that.  Anyway it's better in my view in our case to have some protection rather than none.