Ever heard of Fifth Disease? It sounds worse than it is, I promise. Well I hadn’t, that was up until today when I got a call from Jasmine’s school. For the last three days I’ve noticed a rash on both of her arms and just last night I noticed in on her cheeks. I wasn’t too concerned because it never itched or bothered her. The rash would get worse when she was hot, playing, or just got out of the bath. I knew exactly what the school was calling for when I heard the phone ring. I picked her up, called and made an appointment for Jasmine to see the pediatrician as soon as possible.
Jasmine’s pediatrician confirmed that she had Fifth Disease (Erythema Infectiosum), it’s caused by the human parvovirus B19. The good news is it’s a very mild disease with either no symptoms or a slight running nose and sore throat, non of which she had. There is no treatment. Her rash is relatively harmless and causes no symptoms that need treatment. Since Jasmine is no longer contagious she can go back to school tomorrow. When I picked Jasmine up from school I was informed that a little boy had the same thing. Now I know where she got it from.
I’m just crossing my fingers that baby Sean didn’t pick it up from Jasmine when she was contagious.
It’s funny how Fifth Disease got its name. Want to know? Well I’ll tell you anyway. Fifth Disease was so named because it was the fifth pink-red infectious rash to be described by physicians. The other four are
- 1. Scarlet Fever
- 2. Measles
- 3. Rubella
- 4. Roseola (controversial)
I thought that was kind of interesting.
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