The illness is often more severe in adults compared to children. Symptoms are usually mild in children. But symptoms may be life-threatening to adults and people of any age with weak immune systems. However, each person may experience symptoms differently.
Symptoms may include:. The initial symptoms of chickenpox may resemble other infections. Once the skin rash and blisters happen, it is usually obvious to a healthcare provider that it is chickenpox. If a person who has been vaccinated against the disease is exposed, he or she may get a milder illness with less severe rash and mild or no fever. Always talk with your healthcare provider for a diagnosis. The rash of chickenpox is unique. Diagnosis can usually be made on the appearance of the rash and a history of exposure.
Children should not scratch the blisters because it could lead to secondary bacterial infections. Keep fingernails short to decrease the likelihood of scratching. Complications can happen from chickenpox.
They are more common in adults and people with weak immune systems. Complications may include:. If your symptoms get worse or you have new symptoms, call your healthcare provider.
You should tell your provider as quickly as possible if you get these symptoms:. Health Home Conditions and Diseases. What causes chickenpox?
Who is at risk for chickenpox? Most people who have had chickenpox will be immune to the disease for the rest of their lives. However, the virus remains inactive in nerve tissue and may reactivate later in life causing shingles. Very rarely, a second case of chickenpox does happen. Blood tests can confirm immunity to chickenpox in people who are unsure if they have had the disease. It can continue to spread until all of the blisters have scabbed.
If one of your children has chickenpox, it will probably spread to other members of the household who have not already had chickenpox or the chickenpox vaccine. In most cases, you can only get chickenpox once.
This is called life-long immunity. But in rare cases, a person might get it again, especially if they were very young when they had it the first time. Shingles looks like chickenpox and is caused by the same virus. But it usually appears on only one part of the body, where it causes pain. Shingles can happen in people who have already had chickenpox but usually many years later since after we have chickenpox, the virus stays with us in an inactive form. Shingles is contagious, but only to those who have never had chickenpox.
Many schools and daycare centres have policies that require children with chickenpox to stay home for 5 days after the rash appears. The goal is to protect other children from the disease. Unfortunately, this does not stop chickenpox from spreading. Chickenpox is contagious from 1 to 2 days before the rash appears, and most infectious from 12 to 24 hours before the rash appears. It spreads through the air, not just by direct contact with the rash.
If your child is too sick to take part in regular activities or if they have a fever, they should stay home. For mild cases low fever for a short period of time and only a little rash, less than 30 spots , children can go to school or child care if they feel well enough to take part in regular activities, and if the facility permits. Pregnant women can develop severe chickenpox.
Most adult women are already protected against chickenpox by antibodies in their blood. If you are thinking of getting pregnant and have not had chickenpox, you should be vaccinated. If you are pregnant and have not had chickenpox, call your doctor right away if you are exposed to chickenpox.
Your doctor may want to give you a special type of immune globulin VariZIG that has antibodies to chickenpox to help prevent you from getting a severe infection. The best way to protect your child from chickenpox is vaccination. If your child is not yet vaccinated and comes in contact with another child or family member who has chickenpox, they may still be protected if they are vaccinated right away. If your child has an immune system disorder and comes in contact with chickenpox, call your doctor right away.
The doctor can give a special type of immune globulin VariZIG with a large concentration of antibodies to chickenpox to help prevent infection, or early treatment with an antiviral drug. It takes between 10 and 21 days for the true signs of Chickenpox to develop.
This is the incubation period. The first sign of the disease, when the virus becomes active might not be the rash. Vaccination against Chickenpox is available but, in the UK, it is not carried out as routine or as part of the NHS immunisation programmes.
Chickenpox is recognised by the red spots which then explode across the body, the older you are the more you are affected. The person has been contagious days before the blisters appear.
The blisters contain the virus and these blisters usually take about five to six days from the start of the spots to scab over. Until all the spots are scabbed over you continue to be contagious. Staying at home so you avoid contact with pregnant women, young babies and anyone with a weakened immune system is important until the blisters scab over. If your child has a headache, aches, pain or has a fever you can give them paracetamol eg Calpol. Follow the dosage instructions provided in the leaflet.
Please note: cold-sponging a child who has a fever is now not advised. This is because the blood vessels under the skin constrict when in contact with cold which reduces heat loss and can trap heat in core parts of the body. The child may then get hotter.
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