What is Fifths Disease: Causes and Symptoms

A virus causes fifth disease. It often results in a red rash on the arms, legs, and cheeks. For this reason, it’s also known as “slapped cheek disease.” It’s fairly common and mild in most children, but it can be more severe for pregnant women or anyone with a compromised immune system.Most doctors advise their patients to wait out the symptoms because currently there’s no medication that will shorten the course of the disease. However, if you have a weakened immune system, your doctor may need to closely monitor you until the symptoms disappear.

Source

Causes
Parvovirus B19 causes fifth disease. The virus tends to spread through saliva and respiratory secretions among children who are in elementary school. It’s most prevalent in the winter and spring, but it can spread at any time and among people of any age.

Symptoms
The initial symptoms of fifth disease are very general. They often include:

• headache
• fatigue
• low-grade fever
• sore throat
• nausea

Diagnosis

Often, doctors can make the diagnosis just by looking at your skin rash. Your doctor may test you for specific antibodies if you’re likely to face serious consequences from fifth disease. This is especially the case if you’re pregnant or if you have a compromised immune system.


Treatment

For most healthy people, no treatment is necessary. If your joints hurt or you have a headache or fever, you may be advised to take acetaminophen (Tylenol) as needed to relieve these symptoms. Otherwise, you’ll need to wait for your body to fight off the virus, which usually takes one to three weeks.You can help the process along by drinking a lot of fluids and getting extra rest. Children can often return to school once the red rash appears since they’re no longer contagious.