Day: October 19, 2009

I ran my hand softly over my daughter’s stomach. The raised pink spots felt rougher than the rest of her skin.

“Is it chicken pox?” Gleek asked with wide, worried eyes.

“No honey. Chicken pox looks like little blisters. Besides, you were vaccinated for chicken pox. This is something else.”

“Oh.”

I can’t tell whether she is relieved or disappointed to not have chicken pox. I passed my hand over the rash again. We’d come up to change clothes because Gleek’s fever had broken with the usual accompaniment of sweat as her body attempted to restore normal temperatures quickly. I’m always glad when a feverish child begins to sweat. It means the fever is breaking. I was particularly glad this time because the fever had been high and lasted two days. Clean clothes were called for, but then we both saw the rash.

I’ve seen this before. The knowledge came to me calmly, as if a sudden whole-body rash was nothing to fear. I ran my hand gently over the bumps again and studied the pattern, trying to remember. It did not come to me then, so I helped Gleek dress and resorted to the internet.

There are many alarming pictures of rashes on the internet. Any time I google about rashes I feel very grateful for vaccinations. In this case I was able to make a quick visual and diagnostic comparison. It was a Roseola rash. Her illness was classic for the disease as well. Most people catch and recover from this illness before the age of three. Gleek is 8.

“Gleek come here.” I called to her.

“What?” She came bouncing down the stairs into my office.

“Let me see your rash again.” She held up her shirt so I could compare to the picture on the screen. I carefully took a finger and compressed one of the pink spots.

“What are you doing?” Gleek asked.

“Checking to see of the spots turn white when I push on them. They do. See?” I pushed again.

Gleek stared for a moment then pushed on one with her own finger. She looked up at me with a grin. “That’s cool!” She happily turned spots white for a minute more before lowering her shirt.

When the other kids came home from school she happily demonstrated her new trick for them. The Amazing Gleek and her color-changing spot show. She has also carefully learned how to say Roseola and all the details of the illness. Now that she feels better, she feels cool to have this disease when she is old enough to remember it. I hope she still feels cool when I have to keep her home from school until after the rash is gone. I can’t allow the spot show to go on tour where it can alarm school staff and parents.

Roseola Infantum is an early childhood illness that most people contract and recover from before the age of three. It is characterized by several days of high fever followed by a body rash. Anyone who has ever had the disease is a carrier and so contracting it is pretty much inevitable. It is worrisome, particularly for new parents, but not ultimately dangerous. The rash doesn’t even itch.

Roseola is familiar to me. I diagnosed it several times for several of my babies. When Gleek’s two day fever broke and the rash appeared, I viewed it with familiarity. I could think what it was, but I knew I’d seen it before. I consulted the internet and dredged up my own diagnostic memories. Except for the fact that she is 8 years old, Gleek’s illness was classic for Roseola. How she managed to miss this illness before is a mystery to me, particularly considering that she attends the giant vector barn that is public school. It is not surprising that I missed the diagnosis earlier. I was watching Gleek’s fever and evaluating it against swine flu symptoms. I stopped worrying about infant illnesses about the same time I stopped changing diapers.

The good news is that no one else is likely to get sick. Everyone else in the family has been exposed previously. Gleek feels lots better and is bouncing around happily. The bad news is that the rash may linger for several days and I can’t send her back to school until it disappears. The quarantine is not due to actual contagion, but due to the fact that one look at her stomach would have the school staff sending her back home for fear of contagion. Also, Gleek would be so tempted to show the rash to her friends. So I predict boredom for tomorrow. Perhaps I’ll swing by her classroom and pick up some homework for her to do. Or maybe the rash will be gone in the morning. That would be nice.