Roseola Infantum

So what I thought was just a fever and maybe the flu or random virus now has an official name - Roseloa Infantum, most commonly caused by the HHV-6B virus. The virus has an incubation period of about 9 days (5-15days). It's characterized by a high fever lasting about 3 days, followed by a rash, and most commonly affects 9-12 month olds.

Tuesday night while bathing her, we discovered a rash all over her body - on her torso, on her back, under her neck, on the back of the head, on her face. She was red and splotchy. At first I thought she was having an allergic reaction to something I ate (I was naughty and had sushi for lunch b/c dh brought some home - I love sushi). I was totally feeling guilty for eating the sushi and thought I'd given Hannah an allergic reaction. Then we figured even if she was having an allergic reaction, there wasn't anything we could do about it, but just wait it out. She didn't seem too bothered by the rash. Then I started wondering if it was connected to the fever from the weekend. She actually slept the worst on Tuesday night compared to the whole weekend. She was restless, very irritable, kept on waking up every hour and crying. She seemed more bothered than she was by the fever. So once again...we're playing the waiting game.

This morning, she was even more listless and upset. She was crying for no reason and very needy. Her skin seemed worse and more splotchy and the patches were even behind her ears. I called the Dr's office and made an appointment for the afternoon. I called dh at work, and I started reading in the "What to Expect - 1st year" book. During our conversation, I stumbled upon Roseola. As I read the chart, all of Hannah's symptoms seemed to fit. Then I got another phone call, and as I was talking to the friends on the other end, they said it was Roseola - even before I told them that's what I thought it was. I proceeded to research more on the computer and yes by golly, our little Hannah has Roseola. I debated whether to keep or cancel the Dr's appointment. I ended up cancelling it since she decided to finally nap. Her nap schedule has been off since she got sick. And the rash seemed to be off and on - depending on how upset she was (severity of fussiness) her skin would fluctuate.

Looking back on the past 5 days, I was going through each day and where we'd taken her. Did we expose her to other kids? Good thing I cancelled our aquarium trip we had planned to take on Friday with some friends & their kids because Hannah was sick. Saturday we did drag her to San Antonio with us, but the extended relatives that helped to watch her were all adults. We had dinner out at Sausalito's while travelling, but she was either held by us or in the high chair. Sunday we isolated her from other kids during her brief time at church. Then she was with me at home during the day. Oh...we went into town briefly Monday evening, but she was mainly in the car, and then to Wal-Mart for Infant's Motrin & other items, and then CVS (but she was in the car for that one too). Oh...and she did get dragged to the grocery store Tuesday evening. Sigh. I guess I didn't keep her as much inside as I thought I did. BUT she wasn't around other kids. So I was a conscientious parent about that.

"Eighty-six percent of children have acquired HHV-6 antibodies by age 1 year. By age 4 years, almost all children are seropositive." (emedicine) So kids will eventually get it or have it one way or another. Before I knew this - or knew what Hannah had, I had been racking my brain to where she chould have possibly contracted "the virus." But moot point since basically everyone has or gets this, and some people are asymptomatic. It's spread though body fluids (mucus, saliva, cough, sneeze etc.). Today we realized since our daughter loves sticking her finger into people's mouth, including her own, it doesn't help with reducing exposure to contagious things. Plus people here in South Texas LOVE to touch babies because it keeps away the bad and brings good luck (for the baby or person I'm not sure).

I'm not a doctor, and I can't officially diagnose, but I am an educated mommy. Not that they'd be able to find out if it was HHV-6B if the Dr's office. They'd just go off of the symptoms like me. Even if they did a CBC, I don't think insurance would pay to check for antibodies on such a common and mild childhood occurence. The science is there to find out, but the healthcare system is all messed up.

Here are Hannah's classic symptoms and signs:

- high fever (103-105) for 3 days (Fri, Sat, Sun)
- upper respiratory symptoms (runny nose, congestion, slight cough)
- Rash after fever subsides, days 3-5 (rash on Tuesday - day 5)
on neck, back & chest
- mild diarrhea
- irritability and tiredness
- decreased appetite
- swollen eyelids

References/Read more about it:
Baby Center Fever Symptom Guide birth - 12 mos
KidsHealth.org article (has a good rash pic)
another emedicine article topic398 topic 400 is linked above as a reference
webMD article