Lori_Barfield@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Lori Barfield) (08/03/89)
Help! I need an answer right away! Email me, please. A part of a Buddy program, my kids and I visit a hospice on week-ends. Well, my sons came down with the Chicken Pox last Monday. Luckily, we didn't visit the hospice last week-end, but we were there the week-end before. According to my sources, Chicken Pox has a two-week gestation period. Body fluids are contagious 24 hours before symptoms show up and 24 hours after symptoms show up. After that, only pus from open sores is contagious. But these guidelines are for exposures to people with normally responsive immune systems. Since my kids had to have been exposed themselves two weeks ago, should I ring any alarms at the hospice so my friends can get globulin shots (or whatever)? Am I correct in assuming that people with inhibited immune systems are vulnerable to diseases for which they have already acquired immunity? My friends have T-cell counts ranging from 59 to 600+. I'm sure the T-cell count figures in the answer. I hesitate to warn the hospice without an answer because they tend to overreact. (It already happened to me once.) Thanks, ...lori