Children who catch the common infectious illnesses must be kept away from others to prevent them spreading, say doctors at London's Great Ormond Street Hospital
What is quarantine?
A couple of generations ago, families and those in contact with children with infectious diseases were strictly quarantined. Nowadays it is just the infected child that is excluded from other children.
Many infections can now be prevented by immunisation, but if a child contracts a highly infectious disease a period of exclusion is usually required to prevent it spreading. Suspect children should be kept in a separate room from others and sent home from nursery as soon as possible.
The most effective means of reducing the spread of the majority of infections is hand washing. Practitioners should ensure they always wash their hands before and after changing nappies, not just when a child has an infection. Children and adults should wash their hands after going to the toilet and before and after handling food.
The following transmissible diseases, common among young children, require a period of quarantine.
Chicken pox
- Symptoms: Fever for one to two days. Small red pimples appear and turn into blisters.
- Incubation period: Ten to 21 days.
- Infectious period: A few days before the rash develops and not more than six days after the first pimples appear.
- Prevention and control: Chicken pox is spread in the air via respiratory droplets resulting from sneezing or coughing. It can only be contained if the infected child is kept home from nursery or away from other children. Until chicken pox vaccination (currently available in America) becomes routine in the UK it will remain almost impossible to avoid contracting chicken pox. The Department of Health is expected to introduce a chicken pox vaccine in the UK within the next three to five years.
Do not give aspirin, as it can cause a liver reaction. Paracetamol for fever and pain and calamine lotion for the spots are all that is needed. The child should be kept at home while suffering from the fever and rash.
Measles
- Symptoms: Cough, runny nose, high fever for four days, then a rash at the back of the neck spreading downwards.
- Incubation period: 7-14 days.
- Infectious period: Infectious until seven days before developing the rash.
- Prevention and control: The routine MMR immunisation of children at 12 to 15 months old protects against measles, mumps and rubella, which are spread by respiratory droplets. In the past six months there has been a rise in reported cases of measles attributed to people being unwilling to vaccinate their children. If the trend continues an increasing number of cases of measles in young children are likely. Great Ormond Street fully endorses the vaccine as a safe and highly effective way of preventing the spread of measles, mumps and rubella.
Rubella (German measles)
- Symptoms: Headache, fever, cough and sore throat, then a fine maculopapular rash starts on the face and lasts for three days.
- Incubation period: Two to three weeks.
- Infectious period: One week before to five days after the rash's onset.
- Prevention and control: MMR vaccine (see above). Child to be kept at home, and it is advisable to stay away from pregnant women because rubella can affect unborn babies.
Mumps
- Symptoms: Swollen and painful gland behind the ear, dry mouth, acute pain on swallowing and face swelling.
- Incubation period: 14 to 28 days.
- Infectious period: One to two days before the swelling until five days after.
- Prevention and control: MMR vaccine (see above). Child to be kept at home.
Hand, foot and mouth disease
- Symptoms: Sores in mouth, tongue, throat and lips. Clear blisters on fingers, hands, toes and feet.
- Incubation period: Three to five days.
- Infectious period: a week or more.
- Prevention and control: A viral infection spread from child to child by saliva or faeces. Practitioners should ensure good hygiene practices such as hand washing and keeping toys clean, especially those that children put in their mouths. Child to be kept at home.
Acute viral gastroenteritis
- Symptoms: Diarrhoea and vomiting.
- Incubation period: One to three days.
- Infectious period: The entire period of infection.
- Prevention and control: Spread person to person via the faecal-oral route. Hand washing is important. Isolate during diarrhoeal period.
