First my little son started running a low grade fever the other day. It was hovering around 100.3ish all morning so I held off to giving him meds until it reached around 102 before lunch. That night he was coughing so much that I started to worry if he had pneumonia. We had my RN family member listen to his lungs the day before for the cough and they sounded clear but, you never know. Last year I had a dck with pneumonia who barely coughed! I would have never guessed he had it so I was worried and made an appt. He has an upper respitory infection with a very red throat.

My oldest woke up at 6 am this morning and crawled in bed with me and his brother. Got up when I did and said a while later his throat hurt. I asked if he was ok and he said "yes". I was all set to send him to school when shortly before the bus comes I noticed him lying on the chair looking so tired. I took his temp. Yep-now he has a fever. Gave him some meds for pain/fever and he perked up. A few hours later all he wanted to do was watch a movie so we did. The kids and I ate lunch, I cleaned up the kitchen and went to check on him again. Fever now 105.3!! This was behind his ear. I have a swipe the forehead thermometer but, I can't stand the constant differing readings so DH told me just hold it behind his ear. When I swiped it at the same time it was reading 102.8 or something much below 105...still, he looked miserable. I had the kids on cots already so I had to put him in a tepid bath and give him more meds. He was so cold and miserable in that bath it broke my heart! But I needed to get that fever down in case it was 105. Got it down and when DH came home he took him to urgent care because our Ped is moving right now. He has strep!

Do I need to bleach everything? Everyone was already exposed since incubation is 2-5 days. I sent all parents a text but, am staying open tomorrow and they can choose whether to send or not. It probably won't matter since they have all been here all week with him for at least part of the day. We had a pretty healthy winter for my kids until now(I was sick for a while though). All at once is really taking it's toll! Poor guys! Is it spring yet??

Reply

I'm sorry your son is sick. I hope he feels better soon.

I have no answers about having to bleach extra or not... I would just close and rest for the day. Clean over the weekend and re-open on Monday fresh and ready to go.

I would not leave it up to the parents to come or not. Even if the kids were already exposed to strep, the point of excluding is to minimize the spread and if you allow kids to come that aren't sick now, they could catch strep but not show signs/symptoms for another 2-5 days and potentially re-infect everyone in your house again.

In cases of contagious illnesses such as strep, I don't think providers should stay open and leave attendance up to the parent. Parents Rarely make the right choice.

Reply

My 3 kids all had strep a few weeks ago. Actually, they had scarlet fever, which is strep with a body rash. I closed because it is sooo contagious. I then bleached everything the kids come in contact with, which pretty much meant every surface and toy. I may have gotten carried away with bleaching but I wanted to be sure it didn't spread. I did everything kid height.... doorways, walls, furniture, you name it! Lucky for us it didn't spread further. A little extra cleaning is a good thing (once your kids aren't miserable and wanting mommy)

Reply

I also told the parents what symptoms to watch for, and if their child had any of these symptoms in the next couple weeks to keep them home and reminded of my illness policy

Reply