It's now twice in two trips to Manhattan that I've seen kids with that fifth disease rash

[conuly]

It's a pretty common disease, of course - you almost certainly had it in childhood even if you don't remember it! - but even when the kids were little and we went to playgrounds and all I didn't expect to see it on every trip out.

But then, I guess the kids weren't getting it during quarantine, and now that even the most cautious people are taking their kids unmasked to the grocery store* and wherever they're all passing it around.

I'm not sure what to do with this information. I vaguely feel like people ought to know if there's an ongoing outbreak, but on the other hand, it really is a nothing disease. It's called fifth disease because it's the fifth on a list of rashy childhood ailments, which just goes to show how unremarkable it is. Unless, of course you have a compromised immune system or somehow dodged it in childhood and then contracted it during pregnancy, in which case there's a chance it can be serious for you/your baby; but I hope that nearly everybody in the first group is still masking relentlessly and honestly, given how very much the antivaxers harp on the MMR, if you're pregnant you and everybody you live with really should be masking all the time no matter what.

* I mean, I still wear a mask in the grocery store, but whatever.

Comments

[lilysea]

But then, I guess the kids weren't getting it during quarantine, and now that even the most cautious people are taking their kids unmasked to the grocery store* and wherever they're all passing it around

One of the other reasons is that COVID damages the immune system for an unknown amount of time after you have COVID (experts think maybe as long as one or two years) so kids may have damaged immune systems from COVID

[conuly]

That's certainly a possibility.

[gingicat]

I had fifth disease as a teen and was watched *very* closely. (I wasn't sexually active and therefore risking pregnancy, there just weren't studies about the effects on teens.)

[conuly]

Came through it all right, though, I'm guessing?

[gingicat]

Yes - sorry for being unclear.

[the_siobhan]

Huh. I had to look that one up, I had not heard of it before.

[conuly]

And yet, you've almost certainly had it.

[topaz_eyes]

Both my kids caught it in elementary school. They both had the characteristic "slapped cheeks" rash. If there is an outbreak, the school district may have already sent letters home.

It's mostly a nuisance, but about 10% of adults who contract it go on to develop chronic parvovirus-associated polyarthritis, so there is a risk for them.

And yes to masking.

[thekumquat]

Ah, it's what we call "slapped cheek" in the UK.

I wouldn't be surprised if I had that a few years ago as an adult, because I managed to avoid most childhood illnesses despite attending chicken pox, mumps and rubella parties (which were still advised at the time). I had whooping cough age 2 because the vaccine was deemed unsafe for premies, but didn't get chicken pox until there was an epidemic round my school age 16 - turns out almost no-one in SE Asia used to get it. And half our boarders were from there.

Thankfully I pushed to get MMR just after giving birth, despite a ridiculous number of nursing professionals telling me not to worry about babies not getting it until 12 months, because I was breastfeeding so Quatlet would get my antibodies. You'd think they'd reconsider when I pointed out I'd never had the MMR (just too old, and an older mother locally) nor ever had measles...

There does seem to be a general reduced post-covid immune issue combined with fatigue, but very hard to quantify. My kids seem more exhausted than I'd expect, but hard to say what is postviral fatigue vs autistic kids struggling in mainstream school.

[conuly]

We also call it that in the US. Both terms are in circulation.

[kengr]

Dunno which disease it is, but I can say with some confidence that I did not get it as a kid.

That's because I somehow managed to dodge *all* the childhood diseases. Only one I've had was chicken pox, and I picked that up from a friend's kid when I was 20.

[conuly]

You may have, but you probably didn't. A decent sized minority of cases are either totally asymptomatic, or simply present as a case of the sniffles without the characteristic rash.

[pwcorgigirl]

My son got it when he was 11 and a half, just old enough to have a terrible reaction that hospitalized him for five days. His knees swelled up to the size of grapefruits and he could not walk at all. Thank heavens that passed off by the time he was released.

His skin peeled everywhere he had the rash. It was a very strange experience. I am not sure why he did not catch it when he was younger, as he caught everything else.

[conuly]

Ooof, that's a pretty extreme reaction. I'm glad he recovered so well!