Sometimes the diagnosis can be made by telephone. Your child can go to school. Because the disease is contagious mainly during the week before the rash appears, a child who has the rash is no longer contagious and does not need to stay home from school or day care. Some schools need a physician's note confirming that the child is not contagious. When adults get fifth disease Most adults who get fifth disease develop just a mild pinkness of the cheeks or no rash at all.
More adults develop joint pains, especially in the knees, then a rash.
These pains may last one to three months. Taking a nonprescription ibuprofen product usually relieves them. An arthritis workup is not necessary for joint pains that occur after exposure to fifth disease. The virus that causes fifth disease doesn't cause birth defects. If you are pregnant and exposed to a child with fifth disease before the child develops the rash, see your obstetrician.