Roseola

Roseola Affecting Babes & Toddlers 

Roseola is a generally mild infection which usually affects babes and toddlers. It tends to cause a distinctive skin rash that could be alarming though it is not harmful. Children could get infected with roseola by the time they enter the nursery school and fight off the virus recovering fully within a period of one week. There are two kinds of herpes virus which could cause roseola and the condition causes several days of fever which is followed by rash.

In some cases, the children develop a mild case of roseola and do not show any indication of illness while in other cases; they may experience the full range of symptoms. This condition is not serious and very rarely a high fever could cause any complications. Treatment for roseola comprises of bed rest, accompanied with plenty of fluids and medication to reduce the fever.

If a child is exposed to some other person suffering from roseola and get infected with the virus, it could take around a week or more for signs and symptoms to show up, if it appears at all. There could be a possibility of a person getting infected with this condition, though they may have signs and symptoms which could be mild to be noticed.

Symptoms 

Symptoms of roseola could start with high fever often greater than 103 F and some children may also tend to have a slightly sore throat, with runny nose or cough together with or preceding fever, The child could also develop swollen lymph nodes in the neck together with fever which could last for three to five days. When the fever subsides, rash tend to appear though it is not often.

 The rash seems like several small pink spots or patches which are generally flat, and some may be raised. There could also be a white ring around some of the spots. These rash usually tend to appear initially on the chest, abdomen and back and then spread out to the neck and arms. The rash may or may not spread to the legs and face and are not itchy or uncomfortable and could last from several hours to many days before they disappear.

Other Signs & Symptoms 

Other symptoms and signs could include fatigue, mild diarrhoea irritability in infants and children, decreased appetite, swollen eyelids, besides runny nose. Roseola is caused by human herpes virus, are of eight types that can infect humans. It is caused by infection with type 6, human herpes virus or HHV 6 and cold sores are usually the result of type 1, human herpes virus.

Roseola could spread in the same way as a common cold wherein a child could get infected on coming in contact with the mucus or saliva of an infected child. For instance, if an infected child tends to sneeze on an object and the same is touched by another child a little later, they tend to get infected. Besides this, sharing cups used by the infected child is also another common way in spreading the virus.