Pink Eye?

[Unregistered]

2 of my fav Dck were out sick last week with everything imaginable including pink eye. 1 child had it the other did not. They stayed home from last wed until this Tu to try and get better completely before coming back. Both looked and acted great Tu. Dcg was still on drops for pink eye but had been since the previous wednesday and had NO drainage, goop, matter etc since that last wed.

Today I wake up with one crusted closed eye and both eyes are burning terribly. I only have 1 other family in daycare who was also on planned vacation Th and Fri last week and returned Mon with no symptoms of anything (still have no signs of anything.)

Is is possible I could still have gotten pink eye from this little one who has been on meds and out of care for 6 days? There are two kinds of pink eye viral and bacterial but it is my understanding that if they get rx drops they have the one that is not contagious for 2-3 weeks and are good to return to daycare 24 hrs post drops starting.

I am going to the rapid clinic tonight and will for sure know if I have pink eye but seriously how long should I have excluded this family from care when they were on drops???

BTW I am already on a rx allergy med so I do not believe this is due to allergies. HELP!!!!

[Michael]

Here is a thread on pick eye policy: https://www.daycare.com/forum/showthread.php?t=26522

And Pink Eye: https://www.daycare.com/forum/tags.php?tag=pink+eye

[dEHmom]

the bacteria that causes pinkeye can survive on surfaces for A LONG TIME! Like weeks! And I read that stainless steel surfaces hold it even longer than say a wood surface. if you use makeup, you have to throw it away, bleach whatever you can like pillowcases etc, and wash in hot water, anything that may have come in contact.


we managed to escape a 2nd round of pinkeye a couple months ago but we all got it in the household. thankfully no dck's or families got it. phew!


you need to constantly disinfect EVERYTHING.

[Meyou]

Definately throw away all makup you've used in the past week as well as contacts if you wear them. You will reinfect yourself if you don't.

You basically need to disinfect every surface of your home. Don't forget light switches, doorknobs and faucets.

[MN Day Mom]

You very well could have of gotten it from her last week...the incubation period can be up to 10 days I believe.

I only exclude families until they've been on meds for 24 hours and have had at least 3 treatments... usually by this point the oozing will have of stopped... eyes still may be pink/red.... but they are no longer contagious so I allow them back.

[Preschool/daycare teacher]

I don't think pink eye this season is responding to the 24 hours and after eye drops. It doesn't care when it's supposed to no longer be contagious haha. Everyone I talk to who's had pink eye say it won't go away with their drops. We had a round of pink eye here, where just about every child ended up with it. Two were out over the weekend (Fri-Tue), and were just about finished with their eye drops. They came back, but that same day another child was out with it. Then the next day another child picked it up. Then we thought it was over, and another came in with it. Then we thought we finally had it taken care of. Had been bleaching and washing everything we could think of that they could possibly be picking it up from and went a few days without any new cases. Then another child came in, after a weekend at home, with it. I figured it'd start spreading around again, but somehow it didn't. SO, my whole point is, even after the children would be out for at least 48 hours, on drops, we cleaned and cleaned and bleached like crazy, and it still spread to child after child.
Good luck getting your's cleared up. That sounds miserable.

[dEHmom]

I don't think pink eye this season is responding to the 24 hours and after eye drops. It doesn't care when it's supposed to no longer be contagious haha. Everyone I talk to who's had pink eye say it won't go away with their drops. We had a round of pink eye here, where just about every child ended up with it. Two were out over the weekend (Fri-Tue), and were just about finished with their eye drops. They came back, but that same day another child was out with it. Then the next day another child picked it up. Then we thought it was over, and another came in with it. Then we thought we finally had it taken care of. Had been bleaching and washing everything we could think of that they could possibly be picking it up from and went a few days without any new cases. Then another child came in, after a weekend at home, with it. I figured it'd start spreading around again, but somehow it didn't. SO, my whole point is, even after the children would be out for at least 48 hours, on drops, we cleaned and cleaned and bleached like crazy, and it still spread to child after child.
Good luck getting your's cleared up. That sounds miserable.

more than likely this happened outside of your home. they may have brought it home and so no matter how much cleaning you did at your place, it was at their place already.

pink eye can be the same virus that causes colds/flus. depending on where it enters the body (or affects the body), it can cause different symptoms. If child touches the virus to his eyes first, it's pink eye, if child touches his mouth first, its sore throat. kwim?