Chickenpox – symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, ways to get rash

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Chickenpox is one of the most infectious diseases in children. Smallpox is accompanied by fever and vesicular rash on the skin and mucous membranes. People with chickenpox or shingles are a source of chickenpox infection. Man is the only host and reservoir of virus in nature, which quickly dies outside the human body.

Chickenpox

Chicken pox is an infectious disease caused by varicella-zoster virus (VZV). Chickenpox is colloquially referred to as “windpox”. The contagious agent of chickenpox is simply a person. Chickenpox occurs mainly in children in whom it is relatively mild. Moreover, it may appear in adolescents and adults, whose course is slightly more severe and causes a greater number of complications.

The chickenpox virus VZV is transmitted by airborne droplets and air, even up to several dozen meters! This is why the condition is called chicken pox. The infection occurs when a child comes into contact with a sick person. It is also possible to transmit the disease in a direct way, i.e. contact with objects, clothing or towels in contact with the fluid exuded from the patient’s vesicles.

Chickenpox infection occurs 1-2 days before the appearance of the first rash and vesicles, but we stop infecting others when scabs appear on the vesicles, which fall off spontaneously at the end. The incubation period of chickenpox (the time from the attack of the body by the virus to the first symptoms of chickenpox) is approximately 14-21 days.

The pathogen, after suffering chickenpox, remains in our body in a latent form and may reactivate, e.g. as a result of a state of reduced immunity. Then she develops shingles. The greatest number of cases is observed among children aged 5 to 9 years. Although chickenpox can develop at any age, it is milder in children.

IMPORTANT: It should be remembered that we can become infected with chickenpox even through contact with a patient suffering from shingles.

Causes and frequency of chickenpox

Chickenpox is the most common and most common infectious disease in children. According to research, up to 95% of people are infected. of the entire population, and in our country each year about 200 patients see a doctor with symptoms of chickenpox. Chickenpox is caused by the pathogen VZV, which is transmitted by airborne or direct transmission, e.g. by using the same towel or utensils as the sick person.

You can get infected in many ways, which is why a lot of wave infections are observed. When one of the children in kindergarten becomes ill, it is likely that more children will soon develop chickenpox.

The following are particularly exposed to the occurrence of chicken pox:

1. people living under the same roof with children,
2. small children,
3. all people who have not suffered from chickenpox so far,
4. people who have not been vaccinated against chickenpox,
5. employees of nurseries, kindergartens, schools and other places with large groups of children.

Chickenpox – symptoms

The first symptoms of chicken pox are heralds, characterized by malaise, muscle aches, headaches, fever, diarrhea. Over time, there is a rash of eruptions – small red spots located irregularly on the skin of the torso and face, and – unlike other rash diseases – on the scalp. Some of them disappear, while the rest transform quickly and go through the next stages of development within a dozen or so hours – from a pink spot through a papule, to the appearance of a delicate bubble surrounded by a red rim.

There is a clear liquid in the vesicles at first, and then it becomes more cloudy. With the development of chicken pox, the bubbles collapse in a funnel-like manner, drying into scabs, adhering quite firmly to the substrate. The scabs leave behind scars and are sometimes surrounded by a brown border. In extreme cases of chickenpox, the skin lesions appear as a hemorrhagic rash.

It is very typical for the symptoms of chickenpox to appear in several flare-ups. This causes a variety of skin lesions, because there are eruptions on the skin at different levels of development, the so-called polymorphic rash.

The rash accompanying chickenpox causes itching, and scratching the scabs can lead to the formation of cavities in the epidermis. Changes often appear on the mucous membranes, especially:

1. in the area of ​​the urethra,
2. larynx,
3. genitals (labia),
4. oral cavity,
5. conjunctiva and vocal cords (less often),
6. intestines.

Chickenpox can be mild with minor general symptoms and few skin lesions, up to several hundred eruptions and significant toxicity with high temperature. Chickenpox is infectious for two days before the appearance of the rash until the scabs fall off.

If you develop symptoms of chickenpox, you should see a doctor immediately and be under constant observation.

Chickenpox – diagnosis of the disease

Chickenpox is a condition that is easy to diagnose. The doctor looks at the skin lesions and distinguishes between the symptoms of chickenpox and the symptoms of shingles. Sometimes it is necessary to carry out:

1. isolation of the virus from fluid collected from vesicles,
2. serological tests,
3. tests detecting the genetic material of viruses using the PCR technique.

Chickenpox – treatment

Treatment of chickenpox is only in nature symptomatic, by reducing fever and relieving unbearable itching rash with prescribed anti-itching agents. The effects of scratching can be reduced by cutting your child’s nails short and wearing cotton gloves at night. The risk of bacterial superinfections can be minimized by frequent baths, changing bed linen with the addition of special antiseptic liquids, and frequent change of clothes.

As in the course of many other ailments, so also in the case of chicken pox, the child should be at rest. Give him plenty of fluid frequently and eat a healthy diet. Calcium can be given to your child for unbearable itching. The appearance of complications after chickenpox requires hospitalization.

Chickenpox – remedies for rash

During chickenpox in a child, it is not necessarily recommended to use liquid powders, which, despite the initial relief of itching, give a feeling of skin tightening and pain after drying. It is also an excellent breeding ground for bacteria, which is why recurrence of skin lesions is not uncommon. The use of gentian is also contraindicated, because it covers skin lesions, which makes it difficult to observe any superinfections of the resulting pimples. For the unpleasant itching of lesions around the perineum, it is recommended to use a gel with lidocaine. Sometimes the doctor prescribes antihistamines that have the properties of relieving persistent itching.

It also brings relief camomilewhich has healing properties and soothes persistent itching. You can prepare chamomile-based compresses – pour two bags of dried chamomile with water and wait until it cools down. Then soak a summer towel with the infusion and gently rub the spots on the child’s body. Let it dry. It is also recommended baths in diluted potassium permanganate. It is enough to put potassium permanganate into a bowl or bathtub, and then dilute it with lukewarm water. You should immerse your baby in the bath prepared in this way, even every day.

Complications of chicken pox

Complications from a person with chickenpox are generally rare. The most common of them are:

1. secondary bacterial skin infections that cause scarring
2. otitis media
3. rare pneumonia,
4. inflammation of the meninges and the brain,
5. thrombocytopenia,
6. inflammation of the liver, kidneys or joints,
7. inflammation of the cerebellum,
8. Shingles is a condition that mainly affects elderly patients. Pain affects the nerves and tends to be protracted. As for the changes on the skin – they appear along the innervation, especially on the chest or face and, importantly, affect only one side of the body. Shingles involvement of the organs of hearing or sight is very dangerous.

After the treatment of the disease is completed, proper skin care is necessary. For this purpose, order Mediskin Medisil Cream, hypoallergenic regenerating cream for irritation, which has anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties.

Chickenpox and pregnancy

The harmful effects of chickenpox on the fetus depend on the period of pregnancy in which the mother became infected. If the infection occurred in the first or second trimester of pregnancy, the virus penetrating the placenta can lead to:

1. the formation of skin scars,
2. underdevelopment of limbs and fingers,
3. eye defects,
4. cerebral cortex atrophy.

If the mother is infected with the chickenpox virus approximately 3 weeks before delivery, the child in good general condition develops typical skin lesions. Maternal chickenpox between the 5th day before and up to 2 days after delivery poses a risk of severe disease in the newborn, with a mortality rate of approximately 30%. This is because there is no time for the mother to make passive antibodies and pass them on to the baby.