It is spread by coming into contact with the pus coming from an open sore. It is highly contagious BUT I had a child in care with it and I thought it was her eczema acting up and didn't think anything of it so she spent the day here. That evening at pickup I told mom to take her to the DR because it looked bad and was oozing. Turns out it was impetigo. No one else got it.

I allowed her to return 24 hours after first application of antibiotic cream and she had to have a long sleeve shirt and any sores on hands were to be covered with a bandaid. It was super hot here but mom complied and all was well. I let her know that if it becomes too much for me to handle (if she started picking non stop or the cuts were oozing like crazy) I would be calling for pickup and mom understood. It clears up pretty quickly but the kid has to stop scratching.

My own daughter has mosquito bites that she got while camping a few weeks ago and she can't stop picking her scabs. She is now covered head to toe in bandaids for this very reason.

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