Re: Fifth Disease/Parvovirus B19

[Guest guest]

My daughter had fifth disease. When you get it, your face gets red and

it looks like someone slapped you really hard. She also had a fever

with it.

Barb

On May 9, 2005, at 5:57 PM, Tracey wrote:

> Hi Everyone,

>

> Those of you with young children probably already know what fifth

> disease is but for those of you who don't know, it's primarily a

> childhood disease along the lines of chicken pox, measles and mumps. 

>

> Apparently the powers that be, ran out of names after naming chicken

> pox, measles, mumps and rubella so when it came to fifth disease, they

> named it just that, " fifth " because it was often the fifth childhood

> illness to be contracted.

>

> In any case, it is caused by a virus named " Parvovirus B19 " (which

> incidentally has nothing to do with the parvovirus that many of us

> have our dogs vaccinated against).  It seems this is the time of year

> that fifth disease becomes rampant (at least at my kid's school it is)

> so I thought I'd mention it.  For normal healthy people, it's not a

> big deal, you get a rash and a fever and it passes but it can cause

> problems for people with leukemia because it can potentially halt red

> cell production for a while so for those of us who are already anemic,

> this could be a problem.

>

> I think the majority of adults are already immune to it but if you're

> not, you may want to avoid going into elementary schools and day cares

> or if you know a child who has it, you may want to avoid that child

> for a while. 

>

> Take care,

> Tracey

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