Advice please about client's children with chicken pox

Sorry if this seems odd but i wanted to know your thought. i had a client today i go to her house. her child has chicken pox at the moment. i didnt come in contact with the child as he was in the other room but i wanted to know if i can be a carrier for the virus now. i did a mini manicure on the mum and sterilised her hands with alcohol sanitiser before i started. ive had chicken pox already but am worried that i can give it to
other clients. ive looked online and some people say yes. some no. does anyone know?

Hmmm not too sure about this one but I do know that it is a myth that you can only get chicken pox once, the incubation period I think is around 10 days so a bit of a wait for you...
Most likely as you were hygienic and you weren't actually in contact with the little one you'll be ok.
Fingers crossed for you xx

I don't understand people who's kids have children pox. It's dangerous for pregnant woman, yes you can catch it more than once and old people get shingles.

You should be fine if the child was in the other room the whole time. However, I really don't understand your client - did she warn you at all, did she say her child has chicken pox? It's very irresponsible of her I think. Chicken pox is not dangerous however it's not a nice condition - you come up in lots of itchy spots, might end up with scars and you would need a lots of time of work.
As said above, incubation period is about 2 weeks.

simsarahlou said:

Sorry if this seems odd but i wanted to know your thought. i had a client today i go to her house. her child has chicken pox at the moment. i didnt come in contact with the child as he was in the other room but i wanted to know if i can be a carrier for the virus now. i did a mini manicure on the mum and sterilised her hands with alcohol sanitiser before i started. ive had chicken pox already but am worried that i can give it to
other clients. ive looked online and some people say yes. some no. does anyone know?

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I would check with NHS direct or your local pharmaist or GP to make sure, whether you are at risk from getting it.

However, whether the infected child was in a seperate room from you while you were doing the mothers treatments is irrelevent as at some point during the child having this virus he/she would of come in to contact with the work surfaces, door handles and other furniture etc in the room that you were using for the treatments.

Thus anyone running the risk of catching the virus indirectly from the child, whether they had direct contact with the child or not.

I also doubt your client had exercised any form of infection control inantisapation of your visit (a part from shutting the child in another room which is like shutting the stable door on horse that has bolted), so im guessing that the viruses pathigions were still lingering around the area you were working in!

Chicken pox has a 2 week incubation period, so depending on when her child caught it the mother still may not be showing visable symtems of chicken pox or shingles.

I make clients aware when booking that if they are suffering from any infectous medical conditions such as chicken pox etc i will not carry treatments out etc.

At the end of day i have a responabiltiy not only to proctect my own health, but the health of my family, friends and other clients, something that your client didnt seen to give a s~~t about

I feel your client was VERY irrasponsable and selfish for not warning you prior to the treatment thus giving you a chance to rebook for when her child is better and is not contagious any more.

Rant over!

That's bad on your clients behalf for not letting you know In advance hunny.

I do a pedicure regular on an old lady and bless her she rung me to tell me she was looking after her grandson and didn't want me to catch it, thought it was rather thoughtful of my client. Shame they can't all be like that.

Hope you don't catch them hun, suppose the best you can do now is to make sure clients Inform you of any serious illnesses, at the end of the day you don't get sick pay like others do, if your off because you have caught something it's a big deal x x x

Thought some of this info might be useful, just incase. Theres lots of info and advice on the nhs direct site.


"If your child has chickenpox, inform their school or nursery and keep them at home while they are infectious, which is until the last blister has burst and crusted over. This usually takes five or six days after the rash begins.
If you have chickenpox, stay off work and at home until you're no longer infectious.
If either you or your child has chickenpox, it is also a good idea for you, or them, to avoid contact with:
pregnant women
newborn babies
anyone who has a weak immune system, such as people who are having chemotherapy (a treatment for cancer) or taking steroid tablets
If you or your child have recently been exposed to the chickenpox virus, you may not be able to visit friends or relatives in hospital. Telephone the ward to check first.

Chickenpox can sometimes be spread through contact with objects that have been infected with the virus, such as children's toys, bedding or clothing.
If someone in your household has chickenpox, you can help stop the virus spreading by wiping any objects or surfaces with a sterilising solution and making sure that any infected clothing or bedding is washed regularly."

How times change, when my kids were little if someone in the village caught something, that child became the most popular kid in the area, because we all wanted our kids to catch it while they were young.
Funny thing, my son got chicken pox when his sister was 3 months old and she never caught it, the doctor said it was because I was still breast feeding and she had my immunity through the milk.
When my son was 7 he got measles, it was the first case our doctor had seen for 12 years, Kayleigh didn't catch that either, and yes, Karl had been immunised, Kid down the road got German measles, nope Kay didn't get that either.
German measles by the way is the one that is dangerous for pregnant women, it can cause birth defects such as brain damage, blindness and/or deafness in the unborn child.
The worst bit about chicken pox is that the kid who has it is infectious for about 10 days before the first spot appears.
You the adult can still get the adult form (shingles) even if you had chicken pox as a child.
The only thing you can do for the next couple of weeks is to tell your clients that you have been in contact with chicken pox and leave it up to them whether they want to re schedule their appointment.
In your shoes I think I would have walked back out with out doing the service, not because I'm worried about catching it myself, but because, as you and others have said, the risk of passing shingles on to someone is no joke.
What a selfish, thoughtless mare that client is :grr:

The incubation period for chicken pox is 10 days. My youngest got them exactly 10 days after my oldest one came down with them.

Young people can get shingles, too. My son had them when he was in fourth grade.

It's my understanding you have to have chicken pox before you can get shingles. You can't give someone shingles.

It's a shame that your client didn't tell you beforehand about her child. That way, you could have made the decision to go there or not.

Best of luck to you!

Just to clarify my client did tell me her son had it and i went because ive had chicken pox already so i wasnt worried. it only occured to me aft.er if i could carry the virus thats all. so she was considerate and did tel me beforehand. i just wanted to know if i can carry it. ive read online that i cant because ive had it already but thought id post on here incase anyone knew. thanks for your thought

You can't give someone shingles, however the herpes virus that causes shingles and chicken pox is contagious on a person until the last blister has healed over.

If a person with shingles comes into contact with someone who has NOT had chicken pox they
run the risk of infecting them with chicken pox

You could be sitting beside someone on the bus that has chicken pox (or anything else for that matter) and you will never know.

I try not to worry too much about things like this, otherwise I'd get really freaked out.

I always keep my work station clean and of course I always sanitise my and my clients' hands with cool blue before any treatment.