I had never heard of this disease before, and wanted to share what I learned this past week...because it is a disease that (typically) is not serious, but during the week-long infection...it is extremely frightening to watch your little one go through these awful symptoms!
Roseola is a viral infection that is so common, it affects MOST children before school age, especially in toddlers under age of 2 years.
Plus, once you realize what your child has Roseola (due to the "tell-tale sign" of a pink patchy-rash after a high fever), the illness is almost over.
So, to save some parents time and agony for future, here is my run-down of Roseola.
According to the Mayo Clinic:
Roseola is characterized by a sudden high fever (103 degrees, or even higher!), that can last for many days (my son's fever lasted five days). Then the tell-tale sign is a rash over the belly, back, neck and face AFTER the fever is over. The rash is not painful and not itchy.
I also learned that my husband and I have different ideas of what a "rash" is. I was shocked to see a rash over my son's body (pink dots all over), and my hubby said "that's no rash!". His idea of a "rash" is a large area of a continuous red patch, not a few pink dots.
So, just to be clear: a "rash" is defined as any change in the skin; an eruption on the body typically with little or no elevation above the surface.
A frightening complication of Roseola, due to the spike in fever, is febrile seizures. I wrote about our experience with my son's first (and hopefully only!) seizure, convulsing and loss of consciousness here: (https://www.empowher.com/ask/maternity-/-parenting/my-toddler-had-a-febr...).
I did not realize that seizures were also common and nothing to worry about...although it is scary to go through (and, at the time, you're not sure what exactly is happening).
I was told by my pediatrician to call if a fever lasts more than 24 hours. So, I was nervous when my son's fever was lasting for five days! I didn't know how much fever-reducing medicine to give him, as the package says to not give more than 5 doses in 24 hour period. Great, but what if the fever lasts 120 hours on-and-off?! Has this happened to you?
Lastly, after a week of rocking, holding and carrying my once-semi-independent son continuously, sleeping on the floor in his room, rocking him to sleep, trying to be comforting when he is crying and irritable (and, frankly, irritating to be around...sorry to say!!)...he gets a rash all over his body, and I find it ironic that this is a good sign?! Oh well...the body works in mysterious ways, I guess.
He is pretty darn cute, smiling and laughing now that he's feeling better, although he's blotchy and speckled with a rash. Good thing he still thinks he's cute (he likes to kiss the mirror at the cute baby looking at him!).
I am curious, though--why is Roseola so common, and extremely contagious, and is not mentioned to first-time parents?! I really am a normal, laid-back person until I visit the E.R. with my child, and then I turn into hyper-vigilant, over-protective, emotional-yet-stable (and un-stable) mother!
One additional note about fever-reducing medicines. I received conflicting information, and am curious what everyone else's pediatricians have told them. The E.R. doctors/nurses told us to "stay on top of his fever" by giving him a regime of acetaminophen and ibuprofen. I realized, in practice, this means giving him medicine round the clock...and then how do you know when the fever is gone or is the medicine still just working?! Our pediatrician said you *don't* want to "stay on top of the fever", and to give as little medicine as it takes to control the fever (which is more of our philosophy, anyways). He said that fever-reducing medicine is to make the child comfortable, not to prevent a febrile seizure from occurring again. Interesting...any thoughts?
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I have not heard of toddlers having severe fevers (over 104) every month. Just to be clear, your toddler had a seizure and fever, which was diagnosed as roseola, last summer. Since that time, he's had high fevers (without the seizures and roseola) at least once a month?
I have heard from pediatricians that toddlers can have numerous colds and other illnesses (several per month) when they are around other kids...either when they're younger in playgroups or preschool, or when they start kindergarten. Is your son around other kids often? It is not a "bad thing" for them to get colds and other illnesses; it's kind of a matter of either now or later (as their immune systems build up). So, knowing that frequent illnesses are a norm for toddlers, perhaps your pediatrician is saying that your son's body reacts to these illnesses by a fever?
I guess my concern is how high these fevers are, each time he has an illness. Is his temperature the high spike (above 104) each time? I am not a doctor, but if this were my son with extremely high fevers on a regular basis, I would get a second opinion. Toddlers are more prone to high fevers, so please know this is also common for this age. I just have not heard about the frequency of "at least one per month"...I will look into this more and get back soon!
March 3, 2009 - 3:42pmThis Comment
hello, My one year old son also had a febrile seizure on June 30, 2009. We were on vacation in Florida at the time. His temp went fom 98.6 to 106 in nothing flat. The ER said he was fine and sent us on our way. My sons pediatrician said it was roseola after we got home. He is now two and continues to have these fevers at least once a month and the doctor always says he will be fine, just treat the fever. Can there be another cause for this to happen or am my just a worried parent.
March 3, 2009 - 2:22pmThis Comment
hello,
July 21, 2011 - 10:07pmi happened to come across your post, I was wandering if you ever found out what was wrong with your son. My daughter is going through the same thing. The first time she had a rash, 8 months ago, they told me it was roseola. Since then, she has had a fever (lasts 1 or 2 days) and a rash about once a month. The doctors don't seem concerned and the dermatologist said she may have urticaria pigmentosa, which explains the rash but not the fevers.
I hope your son is better now, let me know if you got any answers.
thanks!
This Comment
I would definitely get a second opinion or insist on blood work. My 11 month old has Roseola right now & while he's over the fever, he's got the rash everywhere it's worse on his face. He looks terrible!! I'm just comforting him as much as possible as he also has a cold on top of it ... Poor guy! Don't know a whole lot that I can do for him ... Hopefully it'll go away soon as it's been 4-5 days now with the rash.
January 1, 2011 - 8:42pmThis Comment
Mary,
I am so glad that you were able to find this information! I was so scared when this happened to my toddler, and it makes me so happy to think that my sharing a personal story helped another family.
I hope your little angle is doing well, now! Don't forget to call the pediatrician to let them know about this episode (I'm sure you did!). Let us know if your pediatrician provided any more information that you can share with everyone else.
Take care!
January 25, 2009 - 8:56amThis Comment
Hello,
Just wanted to thank everyone involved in putting together this website. My 9 month old daughter suddenly had fever of 103 for 3 days and late on the fourth day I suddenly noticed the pink dots all over her back, chest, belly, neck and lower face. I was initially scared it might be measles or chicken pox but my husband always researches just about anything on the internet and found this site almost right away. Thank you very much for the information and for calming me down as well.
Mary
January 24, 2009 - 11:08pmThis Comment
I wanted to write again, to let some concerned parents who posted above benefit from our experience.
In May, our 18 month-old son had a febrile seizure, associated with Roseola, as I posted above. We were scared that he had stopped breathing, and even more terrified that it would happen again! We spent half-the-night in the E.R., for the doctors to tell us he's fine; it's normal.
Well, our fears of it happening again came true, as our now 20-month old son had a second febrile seizure. However, this time..we knew exactly what to do, we stayed calm, and are now more confident parents. Here is my story:
This past weekend, our son was feeling warm, had a runny nose, but was still extremely active. I took his temp. before putting him to bed, and it was 101.6. We debated about giving him some Motrin, but decided not to. Well, two hours later our son made a "yelping" sound from his crib and began seizing. My husband and I were beyond frightened, but remained calm and put my son on his side, spoke calmly to him, and he came out of the seizure in about 30 seconds. He was confused and scared and crying, so we comforted him. The second he was able to sit up, I gave him Motrin (for fear of another seizure!). His temp was 102.7. Within 15 minutes, he felt cool-to-the-touch, was asleep and back to normal.
My husband and I were so proud of ourselves for reacting calmly, and knowing what to do with his seizure..we aren't so afraid of them anymore. If the seizure had lasted more than a few minutes (the books/doctors say 5 minutes...I don't think I could last that long), then we would call 911. I wanted to share this story, as it is terrifying to watch your little baby/toddler stop breathing and seize, but when you know what to do, it really does help with the confidence and reassurance that something else "more serious" is not happening. We called the pediatrician the next morning, and he said if the seizing is happening all over the body (not just on one side), then this is just how our son is going to react to sudden, high fevers. Our son's fever continued to stay down throughout the night and into the next morning; he just "caught a virus bug"!
Oh---and lest you think we are "calm, cool and collected" about this situation, my husband and I both slept on an air mattress at the foot of our son's crib for the next two nights... :-)
July 10, 2008 - 1:59pmThis Comment
My daughter got the fever and was throwing up. We were out of town so we took her to the hospital when her fever broke 104. She was acting really funny. The doctor at this clinic said she probly has broncitis although her nose ears and throat looked fine. He put her on antibiotics and she did not even need them. We took her to her pediatrician when we got home and he diagnosed her with roseola. At this point the rash was starting to spread everywhere. My lesson from all this is not to be so quick to put her on antibiotics because they caused more bad than even the roseola. She got really bad diareah and a yeast infection from the antibiotic. But when the rash devoloped she started to feel a little better. I too wish there was a list of things to expect that your kids are going to get. 2 months ago she had hand, mouth, foot disease, also very common!
July 8, 2008 - 7:29pmThis Comment
Hi,
I can definitely understand your fear and concern!
First of all, don't worry too much! I know it is hard to do, but I've "been there" with worrying about a 6-week old little baby, and since you have a diagnoses, you can be prepared! Also, please know that babies and toddlers are almost "guaranteed" to have high fevers, from any number of diseases, including just from the common cold or flu.
From what I understand about this disease (I am not a doctor), is that the complication with Roseola is from the spike in fever. What may/may not happen with a sudden spike in fever is a febrile seizure, which the doctors said are common and not of much concern (from a medical standpoint...I agree with you...it's still scary!).
Can you call your pediatrician and ask what to do with a 6-week old who has a sudden spike in fever? Tell them your husband has Roseola, and you want to be prepared if your infant becomes infected and has a high fever. They may give you some other information, but this disease is caused by a virus (same as colds and flu), and all we can do as parents is make our children comfortable during their illnesses and help keep the fevers down.
Please let me know what your pediatrician says! Do you have any other fears about Roseola? Be sure to read the Mayo Clinic's website (link above in first post), as it may ease your mind.
June 29, 2008 - 1:42pmThis Comment
My husband has come down with a fever and now a rash which the doctor says it appears to be roseola. My son is now six weeks old tomorrow. I'm concerned if my child comes down with this being so young.
June 29, 2008 - 11:36amThis Comment