Is also known as varicella, is a highly contagious illness caused by primary infection with varicella zoster virus (VZV). The virus causes red, itchy bumps on the body.
A common infectious disease usually contracted during childhood. The symptoms are fever and a rash of fluid-filled spots.
A disease caused by a specific virus is transmitted by direct and indirect contact with an infected person. It is characterized by general symptoms, low fever, skin eruptions.
An infectious disease of children, with fever and red spots which turn into itchy blisters.
A highly communicable disease caused by the varicella-zoster virus (VZV, a type of herpes virus), spread from person to person in droplets from coughing, sneezing, or just talking, or from contact with an affected person’s rash. Among children, the disease takes a mild form, involving a slight fever and a rash of fluid-filled blisters, which children must be kept from scratching to avoid bacterial infection. The disease, however inconvenient, is so mild that many doctors recommend that children be exposed to chicken pox in childhood when it will do them little or no harm; most people have, in fact, had the disease by age 10 and so have lifelong immunization from further attacks. But among adults (or for children with lowered resistance, as with leukemia) chicken pox can be a very serious matter, sometimes involving pneumonia, various breathing difficulties (partly resulting from rash blisters in the throat), and on rare occasions encephalitis (inflammation of the brain), Reye’s syndrome, hepatitis, and thrombocytopenia, sometimes leading to death. Like other herpes viruses, the varicella zoster virus afterward lies dormant in the body’s nerve tissues and later may cause attacks of herpes zoster (shingles) in elderly or debilitated people.
Acute contagious disease, caused by herpes varicella zoster vims, characterized by a rash of vesicles on the face and body. Chicken pox is a common childhood disease; it is usually mild in otherwise healthy children but may be serious in babies, children weakened by other diseases, and in adults. After an incubation period of two to three weeks, the disease usually begins with slight fever and malaise, after which itchy macules develop, often first on the back and chest; followed by fluid-containing vesicles that break easily and become encrusted. Treatment consists of fever-reducing drugs, lotions to relieve itching, and rest. One attack usually confers life-long immunity, but the vims lies dormant in nerve cells, sometimes to be reactivated, causing shingles. Also called varicella.
A highly contagious viral disease, also called varicella, that usually occurs in childhood but may infect adults who did not acquire immunity by having the disease as children. Chickenpox causes eruptions of pustules all over the body and lasts about two weeks.
An acute, highly contagious illness caused by the varicella-zoster virus, which also causes shingles, a later reactivation of the virus. Chickenpox is transmitted by direct contact with a person who has the illness or by respiratory exposure to infected droplets. The incubation period is 14 to 16 days, and it can be transmitted within 10 to 21 days following exposure. To prevent transmission to another person, the individual who has chicken-pox should be isolated until all the skin lesions have crusted over.
A mild highly infectious disease caused by a herpesvirus that is transmitted by airborne droplets. After an incubation period of 11-18 days a mild fever develops, followed within 24 hours by an itchy rash of dark red pimples. The pimples spread from the trunk to the face, scalp, and limbs; they develop into blisters and then scabs, which drop off after about 12 days. The only treatment is bed rest and the application of calamine lotion to the spots to discourage scratching. Scarring is unusual. The patient is infectious from the onset of symptoms until all the spots have gone. Since an attack in childhood generally confers life-long immunity, chickenpox is rare among adults.
Also known as varicella. An acute, contagious disease predominantly of children — although it may occur at any age — characterised by fever and an eruption on the skin. The name, chickenpox, is said to be derived from the resemblance of the eruption to boiled chick-peas.
Chickenpox arises due to the varicella zoster virus, which propagates through airborne droplets. Following an incubation period of two to three weeks, a widespread eruption materializes, characterized by conglomerates of diminutive, crimson, pruritic dots that swiftly metamorphose into vesicles brimming with fluid within a mere span of hours. Subsequently, after a number of days, the vesicles desiccate and congeal, forming crusty scabs.
Indulging in the act of scratching the vesicles can instigate a secondary infection and result in lasting marks. In the case of adults or individuals whose immune system is compromised due to medicinal intervention or ailment, grave complications pertaining to the respiratory system may ensue.
Individuals afflicted with chickenpox exhibit a high degree of contagion starting approximately 48 hours before the eruption of the rash until roughly one week thereafter. Nonimmune expectant mothers should exercise heightened caution to steer clear of children manifesting chickenpox symptoms or individuals affected by shingles. This vigilance is crucial as the condition can be grave during pregnancy, posing a significant risk to newborns who may experience a severe bout of the illness.
In the majority of instances, the necessity for specific medical intervention is absent. Paracetamol, renowned for its fever-reducing properties, can be employed to alleviate heightened body temperature, while the application of calamine lotion offers relief from the bothersome sensation of itching. Individuals categorized as being at a heightened risk level, who have had direct exposure to the virus, may receive a course of treatment involving immunoglobulin. This particular course of action possesses the potential to impede the development of the ailment. In the event that chickenpox manifests itself in a severe manner, regardless of whether it afflicts a child or an adult, the administration of aciclovir, an antiviral medication, becomes necessary.
Chickenpox is a contagious infection, principally of children, usually mild in course and characterized by a papular rash and slight elevation of temperature. The incubation period is from 10 to 14 days, but may be as long as 23 days. The rash is composed of spots, each spot being a small pink papule that later develops a blister on top. The spots first appear on the trunk, soon spreading to the face, scalp, and the upper part of the limbs. Occasionally they invade the mucous membranes, painful spots being formed inside the mouth, on the back of the throat, and even in the eye. Frequently the rash appears as crops of a few spots over a period of several days, but it may cover the whole back and front of the trunk. Treatment in most cases consists of liberally dabbing the rash with calamine lotion every four hours (avoiding the eyes and mouth) to build up a crust to protect the spots from infection, thus lessening the risk of scarring. The rash should not be washed, and children must be prevented from picking the scabs off the spots or this may result in permanent scarring. The course of the disease is from one to three weeks, the child being free from infection when the scabs dry and fall off. Also called varicella.