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What to do when teacher has strep!


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I just found out that my ds's teacher has strep throat! She is fully aware that ds has PANDAS and what that means, and she understands the dangers of exposure. She told me last week that she had been exposed to a child who tested positive for strep like 4 days later (this child is in another class), and she was very worried that she would have somehow exposed ds to strep. He started to show some minor symptoms and complain of a headache, stomach ache, and sore throat at the end of the week. I had him swabbed and it was negative, and the culture is cooking away at the hospital right now. His symptoms and physical complaints lasted one day only so my anxiety level came way down. But, when I found out today that his teacher has strep now, I started freaking out again.

1) How long would you keep your child home from school if their teacher had strep?

2) If there is a substitute teacher for a day or two, would you send your child to school, or would you be concerned about strep lurking in the classroom?

3) Would you bump up to treatment dose of abx when he does go back to school just in case?

Of course I am also worried that she could have exposed other kids in his class and that now strep will be going around his room. I'm trying not to totally panic but that is hard. He has been doing really well since school stared so I am even more worried about losing what he has gained. Any advice on how to handle the situation is much appreciated.

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I just found out that my ds's teacher has strep throat! She is fully aware that ds has PANDAS and what that means, and she understands the dangers of exposure. She told me last week that she had been exposed to a child who tested positive for strep like 4 days later (this child is in another class), and she was very worried that she would have somehow exposed ds to strep. He started to show some minor symptoms and complain of a headache, stomach ache, and sore throat at the end of the week. I had him swabbed and it was negative, and the culture is cooking away at the hospital right now. His symptoms and physical complaints lasted one day only so my anxiety level came way down. But, when I found out today that his teacher has strep now, I started freaking out again.

1) How long would you keep your child home from school if their teacher had strep?

2) If there is a substitute teacher for a day or two, would you send your child to school, or would you be concerned about strep lurking in the classroom?

3) Would you bump up to treatment dose of abx when he does go back to school just in case?

Of course I am also worried that she could have exposed other kids in his class and that now strep will be going around his room. I'm trying not to totally panic but that is hard. He has been doing really well since school stared so I am even more worried about losing what he has gained. Any advice on how to handle the situation is much appreciated.

 

Unfortunately, on some level, exposure seems somewhat inevitable, especially in elementary school. If the teacher has been exposed, it seems very likely some of the other students have been exposed, as well. Is your DS taking prophylactic abx? If so, he'll probably be protected from actually catching it, but his behaviors may increase somewhat nonetheless because exposure alone could trigger antibody production.

 

If possible (not sure if you have a 504 or any other means for having perhaps increased incidences of absence), I would probably try to keep my DS home for the week; pick up his classroom and homework assignments from the school and basically "homeschool" for the week. That'll give 'em a solid 10 days (with the weekend on the other end) for the janitorial services to wash the room down on a daily basis, and hopefully any of the other kids that come down with it will have been discovered, kept home, and appropriately treated during that time, as well.

 

I know another PANDAS mom who actually invested in some expensive air purifiers for her DD's school classroom; I guess they have ultra violet lights that treat/"clean" the air that passes through the machine, along with a series of hepa filters, also. She seems to think the investment has been worth it and has helped keep her DD out of harms way for longer stretches than would otherwise have been the case. Just a thought, if the school would permit.

 

Good luck!

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Thanks for the input, Nancy! We decided to keep ds home for the week. He is on a prophylactic dose of azith, but I bumped him up to treatment dose, which is the plan we have in place when there has been an exposure. But even with that we decided to err on the side of caution and keep him home. His school is very understanding of the situation so we are working from home and trying to stay caught up. There were a few other kids in his class out sick yesterday but we don't know why at this point. His teacher sent an email to all the parents asking that they watch for strep symptoms and have them checked out. Any idea what the incubation period is for strep?

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Any idea what the incubation period is for strep?

 

I don't know, but a little internet research will probably yield an answer. The tricky thing could be, though, that it might be a case of a "cascade" of exposure and infection, you know what I mean? It seems to happen that way a lot in schools, where one or two people have it and they pass it on and it continues to cycle through for a bit? Then there's the additional tricky issue of kids like my DS who never exhibit classic symptoms but are perfectly capable of "sharing" the bacteria with others, sorry to say! <_<

 

Glad you're on prophylactic, and kicking it up to full dose is probably a solid idea. Hopefully, it'll make the rounds and get out of your DS's class quickly!

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