1. When Is Roseola Contagious?
Skin rash is one of the visible roseola symptoms your child may develop after contracting the virus. This rash usually follows the acute fever that is often the first sign of infection. You should consider your child highly contagious while he has fever symptoms, and much less contagious after the fever abates and the rash forms.
However, you should still take precautions to keep your child away from other children to avoid spreading roseola. Even though the virus isn't as contagious once it reaches the rash stage, it's still your responsibility to do all you can to prevent your child from passing it on to others.
2. Avoidance Is the Best Prevention
Viruses are usually spread through direct interpersonal contact, particularly hand-to-hand contact and the exchange of bodily fluids. If you know of a roseola virus outbreak at your child's school or day care center, you should talk to the facility's officials to determine whether you should keep your child home until the epidemic is under control. While it's usually not necessary to be overly protective, the roseola virus can cause serious symptoms in some children.
3. If You Get It, Don't Pass It On
Both adults and children develop antibodies to the roseola virus, simply because it is relatively common and you'll likely be exposed to it at some point in your life. However, if you didn't contract roseola as a child, you can still get it as an adult. If you do, your chief concern probably won't be managing symptoms, as the condition causes only minor discomfort if you're otherwise healthy. However, you can still pass it on to children, who are much more susceptible to developing serious symptoms, including a sudden high fever, cold symptoms and a body rash.
