chicken pox questions

my DD has chicken pox and i have no idea where she got it from. her day care said they have had no reported cases of chicken pox in months. and no one i know has it either...

her child care carer is about midway through her pregnancy... what happens if she gets chicken pox of my daughter? is that bad for her baby?

how does chickenpox spread?

we visited a friend who had just had her baby in the hospital the other day, is it really bad if a new born gets chicken pox? is it likely?

a couple of mothers group mums are worried that they will get it because they havent had it and they have had cold type sypmtoms lately. they are worried about gettting it really badly.

i feel guilty about the possibility of spreading it. i know i shouldnt because i didnt know that she had it (i just thought they were mossie bites). and as soon as i found out about it i have kept her away from everyone and told everyone about it... but i still feel bad.

she only has a mild case luckily so i am not worried about her i am worried about other people catching it from her. !

As far as I know once you have the dots you are no longer contages it when you have the flu/cold like sypmtoms that it spreads and thats the problem no one knows you have it until you get the dots I think the virus can lay dorment upto 10day before comming to the surface..

As for the daycare worker it wouldnt be good if she got them while PG but if she has had the before then she should be safe or at the very least she should have had the vaccine before she started to work at a child care place..

With the baby all I can say is when I was 6 weeks old I got the chickenpox aswell as my 4 older sibs mum said I had it very mild compare to the others and was just crying alot and needed to be fed more but the good thing is I have no scars as I was too small to scrach...Good luck hope theuy clear up soon..

whenever we have even just one person at work who has chicken pox, they send ll of the pregnant ladies home - its very unlikely that anything can go wrong if you have already had th virus, but if you havent it can have very bad effects on the unborn baby.....

from another website, not sure if i should note which one, but its babycentre - mods please delete if i shouldnt not, but here you go:

I'm pregnant. Should I avoid contact with people with chicken pox?


If you had chicken pox as a child, you probably have no reason to worry. Your body has developed antibodies to the virus, making you immune to further infection. However, if you think that you've never had chicken pox, you should avoid contact with people with chicken pox or shingles, a related condition that can be passed on as chicken pox.
What are the risks if I do catch chicken pox?


Chicken pox can be more severe if you catch it while pregnant. Your doctor may offer you aciclovir, which reduces the severity and duration of chickenpox but only if it is given within 24 hours of you developing a rash. Aciclovir is believed to be safe during pregnancy but if you are less than 20 weeks pregnant doctors probably won't recommend it because of the theoretical risk of the drug affecting the baby.

The risks to your baby change greatly depending on when in your pregnancy you catch chicken pox. Before 13 weeks, the risk is small, with only 0.4 per cent of babies suffering any side effects. Babies whose mothers catch chicken pox between 13 and 20 weeks are at slightly greater risk. Around 2 per cent will be underweight when they're born or have birth defects such as scars, and eye problems. They may also be slow to reach the developmental milestones that your health visitor will be checking for.

If you catch chicken pox between 20 and 36 weeks of pregnancy your baby is unlikely to be affected, though he may develop shingles in his first few years of life. After 36 weeks, the risks increase again. If you contract chicken pox just before or after giving birth, the baby is at very serious risk. Should this happen to you, your baby will be given an injection of varicella-zoster immune globulin (VZIG), a blood product that contains chicken pox antibodies, to reduce his risk of being seriously affected by the disease.

Don't feel guilty hun, you can't know until the symptoms surface. At least DD has got it out of the way now!

Just double checked this as I thought the fluid from the little blisters also spreads chicken pox... did a google search and this is from the Better Health Channel website (Australian).

Chickenpox is spread by air-borne droplets from the upper respiratory tract (coughing, sneezing) or from the fluid in the skin lesions. An infected person is contagious for 1–2 days (possibly five days) before the onset of rash and remains infectious until the blisters form scabs (usually around day five of the illness).


High risk groups
People at increased risk include:
Newborns – there is an increased risk of severe illness in the first 28 days of life.
Pregnant women – who have not had chicken pox or been vaccinated for chickenpox. If a pregnant woman acquires chickenpox in the first 20 weeks of pregnancy, there is risk of congenital varicella syndrome and this can cause abnormalities. After 20 weeks the risk is lower. However, having chicken pox around the time of delivery (five days prior to or within two days after delivery) can result in a high mortality rate of the newborn.
People who have depressed immunity, such as those with leukaemia or Hodgkin’s disease, or those taking immunosuppressive drugs are at risk of longer and more serious illness.

I know you are worried, but hun, there's truly nothing you could have done about it when you didn't even know she had chicken pox. I know that's easy to say and I'd feel the same as you are, but it isn't your fault.

thanks for the info guys. i just hope the baby doesnt get it! i spoke to the day care and she has had it before so isnt worried. does anyone know if the runs is a sypmtom as well? surely my DD has bad luck cause she has pox and the runs! poor thing.

I work in neonatal and one of the nurses came down with CP. They actually immunised all the babies she had looked after. Did you let your friend with the baby know?? Maybe she should mention it to her paed before she goes home - just a thought!!

And don't stress - you weren't to know!!!!

shellbelle yep i did let her know about it and i told her about what you said in your post re: immunisations. the baby is out of the hospital now she is actually 7 days old but i said she should go to the doc and ask about it. i guess thats all i can do now hey, i should just try to stop worrying! thanks again .