An Australian parenting education group has revealed the one simple rule to tell whether a rash may be life threatening or not.
Tiny Hearts Education, run by former paramedic and mum Nikki Jurcutz, shared the life-saving advice in a Facebook post saying parents who spot a rash on their child’s body should do a ‘blanching test’.
A rash that turns white when pressure is applied is considered safe whereas a mark that remains the same colour even when pressed on can be a sign of severe illness like meningococcal and parents should call triple zero immediately.
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Former paramedic and founder of Tiny Hearts Education has warned parents to perform a ‘blanch test’ on rashes to determine whether they may be life threatening
Nikki said rashes can have many different appearances with raised bumps, flat areas, blisters, welts, bright red colouring or a combination of characteristics.
‘They might spread, move and change over time. You can also have rashes that appear small and have bright red/purple spots or bruises,’ she said.
‘When you notice your bub has a rash, you need to perform a test to check if the rash blanches.’
If a rash does not turn white under pressure from a finger or glass for five seconds, it could be a sign of serious illness like meningococcal
The post was accompanied by a video showing an example of a ‘non-blanching’ rash on the leg of a child in hospital.
She said one way to do the test is by applying pressure to the rash with a finger and holding for five seconds.
‘What did you notice? Did it turn white and then back to red? If yes – good! This is a blanching rash and as long as bub has no other concerning symptoms, follow up with your GP,’ she wrote.
Another way to do a ‘blanche test’ is to gently roll a glass over the rash to see if it looses its colour when pressure is applied.
‘If you press, hold and release and the rash doesn’t change colour to white – this is a non-blanching rash and you need to call 000,’ Nikki warned.
‘Non-blanching rashes could be a sign of severe illness such as meningococcal infection, meningitis, anaphylaxis or measles.’
‘Non-blanching’ rashes, which can occur anywhere on the body, are caused by bleeding under the skin and while they are not always a sign of something sinister need to be seen quickly to either rule out or treat serious infections.
Previously a mum told of how her one-month old baby was diagnosed with meningococcal after she did the ‘blanch test’ on a tiny mark that appeared on his leg.
‘From a little spot to a very sick little boy in under 12 hours. Scary!’ the woman wrote in a post.
She said her son had been unsettled for a few days and was ‘spitting up’ which she put down to gas as he had no fever.
The mum bathed him on Tuesday morning after he wet himself and didn’t notice any rash or marks, but then when she bathed him again 12 hours later she saw that the skin on his back, tummy and hands was mottled.
A mother has shared how she was alarmed when she saw a small purple mark on her son’s leg that turned out to be a symptom of meningococcal
Mottled skin looks like smears and spots of colours presenting on the surface.
‘While my husband was giving him a massage he noticed a purple mark, no bigger than my pinky nail, on our sons leg that would not blanch,’ she wrote.
‘We put a glass to it to double check. I decided to take him into emergency to be safe.’
Doctors identified the baby boy had meningococcal and he is now recovering.
The situation could have been a lot worse if it weren’t for the parents’ awareness of the difference between ‘blanching’ and ‘non-blanching’ rashes.
The post was flooded with comments from people relieved the boy is recovering and thanking the woman for sharing the valuable information.
The situation could have been a lot worse if it weren’t for the parents’ awareness of the difference between ‘blanching’ and ‘non-blanching’ rashes
‘Thank you for sharing. I doubt I would not have looked into that little mark any further. I hope he is recovering well,’ one woman wrote.
‘Wow! I wouldn’t have classed this as a rash! Thanks for sharing and raising awareness, glad bub is okay now,’ said a second.
Other mums decided to share their similar experiences.
‘Just before my son was one, he had identical spots appear on his wrist and I also went to the hospital because they didn’t turn white when pressed. They didn’t muck about and gave him medication straight away for meningococcal while they waited for results,’ one mum said.
‘Thankfully it turned out not to be that and they put it down to being an allergy of something he ate. To this day I have no idea what it was.’
‘Our daughter contracted MenB when she was three, I thought she had the flu but thankfully her doctor picked up a pin prick size dot on her chest,’ another mother shared.
