Fifth disease?

Mrs.21

My SIL just informed me that my nephews have fifth disease. I saw them last Thursday, so I was definitely exposed to them. I looked it up online, and there's a chance of miscarriage from exposure. I am going to call my OB tomorrow to see what I should do.

Does anyone have any experience with fifth disease, or know of anyone who was exposed during pregnancy? I had honestly never heard of it before today.

TIA

Mrs.21

Sorry, that should say there is a risk of miscarriage from infection.

*Bee*

A teacher I work with was exposed during her pregnancy and they made her go in for a blood test to see if she was immune to it (I guess you can build an immunity to it).  Thankfully she was, so everything was fine.  I'm not sure what comes next if you are not immune.

MommyMeSoon2B

The incubation period (the time between infection and the onset of symptoms) for fifth disease ranges from 4 to 28 days, with the average being 16 to 17 days.

That is crazy!!!!  

 

Tommygrl14

I was exposed to that and chicken pox and had a blood test to make sure I was immune.  *MOST* adults are immune to fifths disease.  Just call your OB and let them know.

g8orell

I'm a PA in pediatric dermatology and see this all the time. It is contagious and can cause "hydrops fetalis" which causes hemolysis (splitting of red blood cells), but is very rare. Most adults have immunity to it b/c most of us have had it as a child (whether or not you know it). So try not to worry about it. The risk of you getting it is low, and even if you do get it, the risk of the baby having a problem is even smaller. You can have your OB run a parvovirus titer on you to see if you have immunity.

 

Mrs.21

Thanks everyone! I was a little worried about it, but there's nothing I can do but just talk with my OB tomorrow and see if they want to do a blood test to see if I'm immune. Glad to hear it's pretty common and usually not something to worry about!

meanbearkitty

i'm a teacher and was exposed to fifth disease a few weeks ago.  my ob had me come in for some blood work to see if i was immune.  i was, but she told me that, even if i did get it, the chance of miscarriage is like 5% and it's not known to cause birth defects.  try not to worrry too much, it kind of upset me at first, but it turned out to not be that big of a deal.  hope this helps!

Dulaney

I was exposed to fifth's disease twice last month and called my dr. right away.

He ran tests to ease my mind. I was immune to it. He told me that fifths is called fifths disease because it is the fifth most common childhood disease. Chances are you had it when you were younger.

Mama Angelina

I was exposed to it by some students in my class before winter break.  It freaked me out.  I got the blood test and am NOT immune.  I'm just praying either I don't get it or if I do that baby is not affected.  There's not a whole lot you can do since symptoms only show up a couple weeks after infection.  It's hard to know who has it.  Good luck!

KMR816

I teach and was exposed to Fifths Disease during my pregnancy. ?

I had it when I was a kid. ?If you've had it before, you are SUPPOSED to be immune to it...like chicken pox...but there's a small possiblity that you aren't. ?

I called my OB, and she had me come in for a blood test. ?The blood test checks to see if you have the antibody in your system or not. ?I did have the anitbody (from where I'd had it as a kid). ?They did tell me that the majority of adults have the antibody whether they actually had the outbreak as a child or not.

If you don't have the antibody, I think they monitor your baby's growth more frequently to make sure everything is okay. ?The nurse at my OB office didn't really know what would happen besides that because she didn't remember them every having a PG woman with it.?