traveling to Japan with chickenpocks?

Hello,

Weird question perhaps, but we'll be traveling from The Netherlands to Japan on october 24th with a baby and toddler. Now we suspect our baby has chickenpocks. If that is the case, then our toddler may get chickenpocks in 1 to 3 weeks. I would like to know if it might cause a problem getting into Japan with a dutch toddler with chickenpocks.

Does anyone have any experiences getting into Japan with a viral disease or with chickenpocks in particular? Or does anyone know if chickenpocks is a common illness for children in Japan?

Thank you an sorry for the crappy English.

You're going to get on a plane with a child with chickenpox and expose other passengers to it? You do realize that adults that have never been exposed can catch it, don't you?

http://www.med.umich.edu/1libr/aha/aha_chickpox_crs.htm

I certainly hope that I won't have to expose anyone, but we migth not have any choice. We have to go to Japan and have non-refundable tickets, so we can't postpone for a few days.

Anyway, the younger one won't be contagious anymore by then and the chances of the older one having blisters exactly on the day of the flight are pretty small (especially because we don't know if the younger one actually has chickenpocks).

But just in case I wanted to be prepared for any problems, so that is why I asked the question here.

I don't know how it is in the US or in Japan, but in the Netherlands chickenpocks are very common and there are hardly any people who haven't had the infection as a child. Here a child with chickenpocks doesn't even have to stay home from school or anything..

Hi, My daughter recently had chickenpox just before we were due to fly to US. The airline wouldn't let her fly until she was 6 days from when the first blister appeared. The airline were great and transfered our tickets to a few days later so that they were sure she was not infectious. You do also realise that they are infectious about 10days before the blisters even appear. I understand how you feel as we could not miss going to US as my husband and I were getting married! But there was no way that I could live with the worry that I would be infecting others especially the elderly. Adults that get chickenpox suffer worse than children.I would wait to see what happens, but don't discount the fact that your child could wake up in the morning of the flight covered in spots!

Checkinpocks is highly contagious and unexposed adult can get really sick from it. Flying with a child with chickinpocks is very selfish and inexcusable. You're going to infect a plane-full of people. Airlines would change the dates of your flights under the circumstances.

Your child may not be permitted to enter Japan if she/he present with blisters.

Hi, Yea it is common in Japan just like other parts of the world.

The other issue is travelling with at least one child that is feverish and uncomfortable due to chickenpox. I can remember when my youngest brother got chickenpox on a trip to Australia- my mother spent about 3 days in the hotel room with him because he was so sore and irritable and cried constantly.

He also looked pretty unsightly as he had the blisters everywhere.

Depending on your baby's age, it is also possible that he/she won't get the illness this time round due to retaining some of the mother's immunity at this stage.

Rather than exposing everybody you come across to chickenpox and having the enjoyment taken out of your holiday by travelling with a sick baby, not to mention that it is generally better for sick people not to travel if they want to recover well, if it were me I would delay/ cancel the trip in your case. That is what travel insurance is for.

I found this on the internet and it seems to fit your situation:

Q. I'm flying to Antigua next week with both my children. However the oldest Zoe, who is 3 has come into contact with another child who has since developed chicken pox. What are the chances she will get it too, and will she be allowed to fly if she does have it?

A. This is a question that I am being frequently asked at the moment as we are right in the middle of chickenpox season.
I understand your concern as it is impossible to tell if Zoe will contract it from her friend and when it will come. You obviously don't want to cancel your holiday only to find that she remains in perfect health, and neither do you want to turn up at the check in desk just as the spots erupt to be told you cannot board.
There is a lot of conflicting information around but for your circumstances this is what I advise.
The incubation period for chickenpox can be anything from 7 to 20 days. So you can have a long wait to see if Zoe is going to develop the illness. However , during this incubation she is not contagious until she is about to come up with the rash. You can tell this is about to happen as she will develop symptoms like that of a cold. She will be snuffly, may have a fever and be generally unwell and clingy. If this happens the chances are that she is about to erupt in blister like viral filled vesicles, and, as she will be infectious you should cancel the flight.

If she remains well over the next week then she is unlikely to be incubating the illness and you should go ahead with the holiday as planned. Of course there is a chance that with a maximum of 20 day incubation that she could go down with the illness whilst you are in Antigua.

Once she has the spots then she will be infectious to others until the very last spot has finally crusted over and fallen off and should not fly.

Chickenpox is caused by a variant of the Herpes virus, and is spread by respiratory droplets, so if she coughs or sneezes then she can infect anyone in the vicinity.

This creates the difficulty with flying as air is recircrculated around the plane so others may breathe it. Therefore there is a danger that any passenger may contract the disease. This can be a disaster if anyone on board has AIDS or is immunosupressed after a transplant as chickenpox can be fatal in these people.

So if Zoe stays well this week feel free to board the plane and enjoy your holiday, but if she begins to fall ill then cancel as soon as you can. This will be reimbursed by your insurance policy.

http://www.e-med.co.uk/travel_health_questions/fit_to_travel...

I would like you to consider how you would feel if your child was healthy upon leaving on your trip and someone else's child went onto the plane with a known case of Chickpox!or worse and your child became ill - really ill and ????? - I think you would be upset and so I suggest you now know the answer - check with the airline and see if they will help as another person suggested - you are obligated to consider the health of all the other passengers - and as was pointed out older people can become sick too - this same virus causes Shingles which is a nasty disease to older people - then there are the ones who might be travelling with immune systems compromised for other reasons. You are a parent and you need to be responsible about this - I certainly can see your position, but that is why we buy cancellation insurance - with children you should have.

I think you should consider other immuno-suppressed passengers on board. An if an elderly person who never contracted chicken pox before, catches it from your kid.. might be fatal for him/her.

For the consideration of your kid and others.. i really don't think you should go eventhough chickenpox is a common disease.

We have to go to Japan and have non-refundable tickets, so we can't postpone for a few days.
Quite often the airlines can rebook you in cases like this regardless of the class of the ticked, especially since they will likely stop you from boarding when they see the chickenpox on the your other child. Do you have travel insurance? It is best to contact the airline, IMO, even if it means that they will probably flag you.

It would be best to get a note from your GP (huisdocter) stating that your children are not contagious anymore.

And even if you don't have travel insurance, I would think that illness verified by a doctor's letter would enable you to change your flights without penalty.

I have done that here in the US.

Thank you all for your reactions. Especially the ones from yllwsmrf, timmy96815, Kappa and Mara I found very helpfull.

The youger one btw has only 4 spots, all on her face/cheeks. We don't really see any blisters, so if there are any they are very very small. We don't know of any contact she had with onthers with chickenpox and she hasn't been sick. So there seems to be a rather large change she doesn't have them and the spots are caused by allergy or something.

We'll follow the advice as yllwsmrf posted: watch the older one closely. If she stays completely well up until the flight, we'll have to assume it wasn't chickenpox after all. To be prepared for any illness shortly before flying, we'll ask the airline and the insurence company about their policy.