As far as childhood diseases are concerned, chicken pox is one of the most common around. The disease itself is very infectious with a body wide rash being the main characteristic of the illness. Symptoms of the disease usually appear within two weeks of exposure to the virus that is responsible – the varicella zoster virus. The virus can be spread in a couple of major ways; by contact with an open chick pox sore, or by droplets exhaled into the air near an infected individual.
When the rash first makes an appearance on the body, it does so in the form of quite small red bumps which are very itchy. Within a couple of days, these little bumps begin to fill with fluid, and this part of the cycle lasts another two or three days after which the bumps drain of fluid and then scab over. It is important to point out that this forming of bumps, fluid filling and scabbing over is not uniform, as bumps can appear at different times from each other during the first week of symptom showing. The condition will remain contagious right up until the last bump has scabbed over.
Once infected with chicken pox, a person then becomes immune to the virus thereon after, and because the vast majority of chicken pox cases occur during childhood, it is very rare to actually see an infected adult. When an adult is unfortunate enough to catch the disease, the symptoms are usually much more severe than in a child. As well as having the capability of getting people hospitalised because of the severity, adult chicken pox sufferers are also prone to other conditions due to the illness such as pneumonia. Pregnant women sufferers also run the risk of passing on the disease to their unborn child, severely increasing the risk of the baby being born with a congenital malformation.
The signs and symptoms of chicken pox are extremely easy to spot. Basically, as described above, you will find an itchy rash develop which steadily progresses from little bumps to spots filled with a pussy fluid which eventually rupture, drain and then scab over. The rash and spots stage is also accompanied by fever, fatigue and a general feeling of unwellness.
Typically, chicken pox doesn’t require a medical diagnosis to confirm the illness, so a visit to the doctor’s surgery isn’t necessary under normal circumstances. Obviously any slight concerns or niggles should be directed to your doctor as it is always better to be safe than sorry. The infected person should be kept away from others while the fluid filled bumps are still active, or until the last one has scabbed over.
Relief from the itching can be afforded to the patient by giving them a warm (not hot) bath and applying calamine lotion to the sores. For those unfortunate enough to contract a severe case of chicken pox (whether adult or child), an antiviral medication called acyclovir could be prescribed by the doctor.
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