Fifth Disease

Fifth Disease

Forum: The Child Behavioral Health Forum
Topic: Misc.



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Question Posted By: Dianne on Friday, March 03, 2000


14 days ago my 7 yr old broke out with the rash assoc.with fifths disease, (confirmed cases at school). The rash ran it's course and about 7 days later the rash was almost gone. Then 2 days ago she started to break out ALL over her face, back,chest and arms worse than the first breakout. I called the Dr. he prescribed Cefaclor. My main concern is this: when my daughter had just turned 1 year old she was infected with chicken pox. Within days of the first "Pox" she developed a secondary strep infection, was sent immediatley to hospital and stayed in ICU for three days. She also has extremley bad reactions to spider bites. It is very common for her to have "the red line" travel through her little body. A few times we rushed to ER where she received shots of antibiotics immediatley. Im not sure if I'm being an over reactive Mother, but I feel that her immune system may be compromised and should I insist that the Dr. do testing on her to find out why she has such extreme reactions. What type of tests I'm not sure but there must be something. Can you help please? Thank you for your time.

[Alan Rockoff, MD]

Dianne:

Please don't worry: it's typical for Fifth Disease to quiet down and then appear reddish and netlike all over the body.  This can last for weeks before it fades, and it doesn't mean a thing.

You also may be overreacting a little when it comes to the spider bites.  When you go to an Emergency Room, the doctors, who often don't know a whole lot about dermatology, tend to call every red swelling an "infection" and treat it with a shot.  Of course, it gets better, but very likely it would have anyway, because spider bites rarely if ever get truly infected.  Myadvice therefore is the next time your daughter gets a "reaction" like these, show it to your pediatrician or a dermatologist if you can.  You may find that thngs are more OK than you feared.

Best.

Dr. R