Keeping your child healthy is very important for his or her learning and development. Use the table below as a reference guide for the most common contagious diseases.
| Disease | Incubation Period | When It Is "Catching" | Symptoms | Rash | Length of Illness | Prevention |
| Chicken pox | 4-21 days | 1 day before rash and 6 days after rash |
|
Individual spots begin as water blisters, spread over whole body, form crusts by fourth day | 7-10 days | Varicella |
| German measles | 14-21 days | 2 days before symptoms and 3 days after |
|
First day: reddish-purple Second day: Scarlet |
3-5 days | M.M.R. vaccine |
| Measles | 10-14 days | 1 day before fever and until rash disappears |
|
Reddish-purple spots running into each other, from head downward | 7-10 days | M.M.R. vaccine |
| Mumps | 12-24 days | 1 day before swelling and as long as swelling lasts |
|
None | 7-10 days | M.M.R. vaccine |
| Scarlet fever | 2-7 days | From first symptoms until 7 days later |
|
Pinpoint scarlet rash on body, not on face | 7-10 days | None |
| Whooping cough | 7-14 days | From beginning of cough for 3-4 weeks |
|
None | 4-6 weeks | D.P.T. vaccine |
Excerpted From:
Excerpt from All About Child Care and Early Education A Comprehensive Resource for Child Care Professionals, by M. Segal, B. Bardige, M.J. Woika, J. Leinfelder, 2006 edition, p. 39.
© ______ 2006, Merrill, an imprint of Pearson Education Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The reproduction, duplication, or distribution of this material by any means including but not limited to email and blogs is strictly prohibited without the explicit permission of the publisher.
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