Chickenpox - Symptoms Of Chickenpox, Treatment, Complications, Chickenpox And Environmental Factors, Immunity And The New Vaccine
lesions skin disease smallpox
Chickenpox, a disease characterized by skin lesions and low-grade fever, is common in the United States and other countries located in areas with temperate climates. The incidence of chickenpox is extremely high-almost everyone living in the United States contracts chicken-pox, usually during childhood, but sometimes in adulthood. In the United States, about 3.9 million people a year contract chickenpox. A highly contagious disease, chickenpox is caused by Varicella-Zoster virus (VZV), the same virus that causes the skin disease shingles. For most cases of chickenpox, no treatment besides pain relief and management of itching is necessary. In some cases, however, chickenpox may evolve into more serious conditions, such as bacterial infection of the skin lesions or pneumonia. These complications tend to occur in persons with weakened immune systems, such as children receiving chemotherapy for cancer or people with Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). A vaccine for chickenpox is now receiving widespread use.
Despite its name, chickenpox has nothing to do with chickens. Its name has two possible origins. Some think that "chicken" comes from the French word chiche (chick-pea) because at one stage of the disease, the lesions do indeed resemble chick-peas. Others think that "chicken" may have evolved from the Old English word gigan (to itch). Interestingly, the term "varicella" is a diminutive form of the term "variola," the Latin term for smallpox. Although both chickenpox and smallpox are viral diseases that cause skin lesions, smallpox is more deadly and its lesions cause severe scarring.
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Chickenpox is spread by breathing in respiratory droplets spread through the air by a cough or sneeze of an infected individual. Contact with the fluid from skin lesions can also spread the virus. The incubation period—or the time from exposure to VZV to the onset of the disease—is about 14-15 days. The most contagious period is just prior to the appearance of the rash, and early in …
Because chickenpox is usually a mild disease, no drug treatment is prescribed. Pain relief, in the form of acetaminophen (i.e., Tylenol) is recommended rather than salicylate, or aspirin. Salicylate may cause Reye's syndrome, a very serious neurological condition that is especially associated with aspirin intake and chickenpox; in fact, 20-30% of the total cases of Reye's syndrome oc…
If the lesions are severe and the person has scratched them, bacterial infection of the lesions can result. This complication is managed with antibiotic treatment. A more serious complication is pneumonia. Pneumonia is rare in otherwise healthy children and is more often seen in older patients or in children who already have a serious disease, such as cancer. Pneumonia is also treated with antibio…
Contrary to popular belief, it is possible to get chickenpox a second time. If a person had a mild case during childhood, his or her immunity to the virus may be weaker than that of someone who had a severe childhood case. In order to prevent chickenpox, especially in already-ill children and immunocompromised patients, researchers have devised a VZV vaccine, consisting of live, attenuated (modifi…
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