[penniechapmanParticipant]

Hi = my husband has myeloma and is currently on lenolidomide and doing extremely well. I have just been informed that my two grandsons, 3 and 5 have scarlet fever. We are due to stay with them on Sunday for 2 days, in fact we do the child care whilst parents are at work. Does anyone have any information as to whether / what are the risks of infection? The boys have already been with us this week for 24 hours, but neither of them were ill at that time> Help please, the myeloma info line isn’t available until monday.

thanks
Pennie

[ellenModerator]

Dear Pennie

I am sorry that you were unable to speak to a Myeloma Information Specialist or that no one replied to your post over the weekend.

As you know Scarlet fever is most commonly diagnosed in children but it is contagious and can occasionally affect adults. I suspect – although I can’t be sure – that your grandsons likely already had the beginning of scarlet fever when they stayed with you – these things often take several days before symptoms are obvious. So if your husband was in close contact then he may be at risk. For this reason it may be worth him reporting this to his doctor or nurse specialist – they may want to give him a course of antibiotics to be on the safe side.

If your grandchildren have started on antibiotics they may well still be contagious for 24 hours after these started. If they are not being treated with antibiotics they will be contagious for about two weeks after they developed symptoms.

I hope this has been of some help, but if you have any further questions, or would like to talk things through, please feel free to call the Myeloma Infoline – I or one of my colleagues can clarify things for you further. The Infoline is open Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm. Alternatively you can email directly to askthenurse@myeloma.org.uk we aim to respond to emails within three working days.

With best wishes

Ellen

[WinkParticipant]

Hi Ellen hope you and your team are well, we met at one of the Birmingham info days and as usual your help and assurances are so well accepted.
Much appreciated.

[penniechapmanParticipant]

Hi Ellen, and thanks for the email and apologies for late response. Andy did call the GP and he was of the view that as the boys had already been here and Andy had not shown any symptoms then there was no need for him to take any antibiotics.

It’s always so difficult to know when to avoid contact with friends and family. Andy has been on lenolidomide for 2 years now and is doing so well we just get on with life as normal.

I’m glad we have this forum. Thank you.

[Author]

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