The site has been down for the last 20 hours or so. I wasn’t able to get on until now, and I’m short on time.
So,
a crash course in…
impetigo.
Somehow, with all the kids, and injuries, and illnesses, we’ve never had this one.
Until now.
Here’s what I learned at the doctor, just in case you were wondering.
We all have the bacteria that causes impetigo on our skin.
When a kid has strep, or even just a cold, it’s a little more concentrated in the crap dripping out of your nose, I guess.
So a kid’s nose is running, and she wipes it with her hand. She wipes some more. And some more. And some more.
And if there is a little break in the skin somewhere, and that snot-covered hand runs over it, and all the impetigo stars are in alignment,
then, BOOM.
Impetigo.
It can break out anywhere on your body.
It happens more often on the face and around the nose because the skin gets pretty raw from wiping it, making it prime impetigo breeding ground.
But nothing about this family is average.
Including where we get our rashes.
Number 7 often runs around shirtless, and she’s had a cold, so I think that’s how she ended up with it on her chest and armpit.
So since I didn’t know what this was, I didn’t take any precautions when I saw that first little bump.
I didn’t quarantine kids, fumigate rooms, bleach towels or sanitize sheets.
Before we knew what it was, Number 6 and 7 took baths together.
Number 5 took a bath after them in the same water, and everyone shared towels.
But no one else in the house has it…another reason why we didn’t suspect it was impetigo, since it has the reputation of being really contagious.
The doctor told me that she’s had it for long enough that it’s not contagious anymore.
So I’m not going to Outbreak precautions.
I’m not saying you shouldn’t take any precautions if one of your kids gets this.
I’m just saying it’s not an automatic impetigo death sentence for your whole family.
The treatment?
Oral antibiotics and ointment for about 10 days.
This concludes our lesson on impetigo 🙂
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ahh yes.. good ole streptococcus strikes again! We, too, had our first case of strep among our kids this weekend. Less than a month after starting Kindergarten and our son contracts strep. I cant wait to see what the rest of his school experience brings
Interestingly, the urgent care doc we saw said that strep will cure itself if left alone. According to her, the only reason antibiotics are used to treat it were to prevent the after-effects of untreated strep infection- namely, scarlet fever. She even went so far as to mention that it will eventually become one of those diseases that they do not issue prescriptions for.. however, the daycare centers and schools aren’t buying that now. No KIDDING?! just give me the meds, doc.
I’m glad #7 “only” had impetigo that has a treatment and you werent just told you have to wait until it clears up itself. At least she’ll go down in family history as having an illness none of the others have had!
I had it at least once a year every year when I was a kid (even a few times as a teen and twice as an adult), but it never had anything to do with having a cold. For me, it was triggered by the cats. And it was always in the same place on my face. Nothing helped, but the ointment helped prevent worse scarring. And no one in our house ever “caught” it from me. The worst part is that it is itchy, painful, and gross.
Didn’t know you could get it from cats. That must be in impetigo 201:)
Hello mom of 7… I’m a mom of 3… It’s seems that they are always getting something that I have never heard if before … I’m looking for mothers with children to join my network so they can work part time and have a full time income…
I realize this post was from years ago… however, I am a mom of 3 dealing with 2 out of 3 kids having this.
I have been blaming these mysterious bumps on mosquito bites, rash, heat rash, poison ivy…
And this morning I found a few spots on my face. They almost look like acne, but after looking around on google and your post, I can tell that it’s NOT. That’s what I get for grabbing the nearest washcloth to pat dry my face after my kid used it!
They can almost be oozy like poison ivy. Like 2020 hasn’t been challenging enough 😉