Belfast - Eight in 10 parents have been struck down by an illness caught from their children, according to a new survey.
Mothers are the worst affected, with 84 percent having caught a cold from their child, while half have caught a cough and 13 percent have contracted an eye infection.
Parents with children living at home averaged 1.18 sick days off per year due to communicable diseases brought home by their offspring.
The poll of 1,000 people by development charity Sightsavers found that the most common ailments passed from child to parent were:
* colds (79%),
* coughs (48%),
* diarrhoea and vomiting (35%),
* head lice (26%),
* chickenpox (17%),
* eye infections (12%)
* and dysentery (3%).
The charity undertook the survey in order to draw attention to its work fighting trachoma in the developing world.
The infectious eye disease mainly affects women and children who live in hot, dry and dusty areas. - Belfast Telegraph