Exclusion from childcare, preschool, school and work
The spread of certain infectious diseases can be reduced by excluding a person, known to be infectious, from contact with others who are at risk of catching the infection.
These guidelines can also be applied to the general community and most workplaces. A childcare worker with gastroenteritis (also known as 'gastro': inflammation of the intestinal (bowels)), should not return to work for at least 24 hours after vomiting or diarrhoea have stopped.
Exclusion periods
The need for exclusion depends on:
the ease with which the infection can be spread
the ability of the infected person to follow hygiene precautions
whether or not the person has some immunity to the infection (either from vaccination or past infection)
to a lesser extent, the severity of the disease.
Definitions
Exclusion periods are based on the time that a person with a specific disease or condition might be infectious to others.
Non-exclusion means there is not a significant risk of transmitting infection to others. A person who is not excluded may still need to remain at home because he or she does not feel well.
A contact is any person who has been close enough to an infected person to be at risk of having acquired the infection from that person.
Exclusion periods
These guidelines can also be applied to the general community and most workplaces.
Cases - Exclude until all blisters have dried (usually 5 days)
Contacts - Any child with an immune deficiency (for example, leukaemia) or receiving chemotherapy should be excluded for their own protection. Otherwise not excluded.
Cold sores (herpes simplex type 1, fever blisters)
Cases - Young children and others unable to comply with good hygiene practices should be excluded while lesion is weeping. Lesions should be covered by a dressing where possible.
Cases — Exclude until acute symptoms have cleared (usually 5 to 7 days). Defer visits to high-risk settings until acute symptoms have resolved and at least 7 days. Workers should refer to workplace specific policies and guidelines.
Contacts - Not excluded but defer visits to high-risk settings for at least 7 days. Workers should refer to workplace specific policies and guidelines.
Cases – Exclude until medical certificate of recovery from SA Health's Communicable Disease Control Branch is received following at least two negative throat swabs, the first not less than 24 hours after finishing a course of antibiotics and the second, at least the next 48 hours later.
Cases – Exclude until clearance has been given by an infectious diseases physician, dermatologist or SA Health Communicable Disease Control Branch doctor.
Cases – Exclude until 4 days after the onset of the rash.
Contacts -
Immunised and immune contacts are not excluded. Non-immunised contacts are excluded from childcare until 14 days after rash onset in the last case in the facility, unless given vaccine (within 72 hours of first exposure) or Normal Human Immunoglobulin (within 72 hours of first exposure). All immune suppressed children should be excluded until 14 days after rash onset in the last case in the facility.
Meningitis, bacterial
Cases – Exclude until well and has received appropriate antibiotics.
Cases – Exclude from childcare, school or workplace and similar settings until 5 days after starting antibiotic treatment, or for 21 days from the start of any cough.
Contacts - For exclusion of contacts in a childcare setting, seek advice from SA Health's Communicable Disease Control Branch. Usually, childcare contacts (in the same childcare group or room) and household contacts of the case who are under 6 months of age and have received less than 3 doses of pertussis containing vaccine should be excluded from childcare for 14 days from the first exposure to the infectious case, unless he or she has completed 5 days of recommended antibiotic treatment, after which he or she may return to childcare
How long you need to exclude yourself from childcare, preschool, school and work for known infectious diseases in South Australia. Also includes close contacts.
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