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In Poland, since the beginning of 2022, more than three times more cases of chickenpox have been confirmed than in the previous year. It is over 69 thousand. cases. A year ago, at the same time, there were about 20 of them. – it follows from the list of the National Institute of Public Health – National Institute of Hygiene.
- Chicken pox is one of the most contagious ailments in childhood
- Symptoms include fever, fatigue, and most importantly, a vesicular rash of varying severity on the skin and mucous membranes
- There is a vaccine that is given under the skin in two doses
- Children can be vaccinated against chickenpox. It is also recommended to vaccinate women who have not contracted it and are planning a pregnancy
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Three times more cases of chicken pox
The Institute’s report shows that from the beginning of January to mid-May this year, 69 cases of chickenpox were recorded in Poland. However, in 126, at the same time, there were 2021 of them. As experts indicate, the severity of the disease results from the fact that a year ago there were restrictions related to the COVID-20 epidemic – increased social distance, limited interpersonal contacts, we wore masks.
In Poland, there are approximately 150-220 cases of chickenpox each year, most of which are children under 10 years of age. Approximately 1000-1300 patients require hospitalization due to their severe course.
Chickenpox – what is this disease?
Chickenpox (Latin varicella) is an infectious disease. It is caused by Varicella-zoster virus (VZV), which is identical to the herpes zoster virus. It is a childhood ailment. It can be very severe in adults. In 2-6 percent patients develop complications: arthritis, meningitis, heart muscle, kidney, liver and acute thrombocytopenia. It is also dangerous in pregnant women, because it increases the risk of miscarriage or the development of congenital pox in the newborn.
Chickenpox – How Does It Get Infected?
The disease passes from a person quite easily, by droplets with air up to a distance of several dozen meters (hence the colloquial name of an air rifle). You can also get infected by touching an infected object, e.g. clothing, on which discharge from bubbles has remained.
Chickenpox – symptoms
The air rifle shows characteristic symptoms. It’s fever, fatigue, headaches, muscle aches, swollen glands, and a skin rash that causes itching. At first, they are spots that turn into lumps, and then into fluid-filled bubbles.
The disease spreads quickly, as the infection may occur 1-2 days before the skin changes occur, but the patient is actually contagious until all the patches on the skin are dry. An average of 10-21 days passes from the moment the body is attacked to the first symptoms.
In some cases, only a few pimples appear on the skin of the patient, in others, the eruptions occur all over the body, including the scalp and mucous membranes.
The pox virus remains in the body in a latent form and can attack when our immunity drops. Then it causes shingles.
Smallpox is treated symptomatically. If necessary, medications are used to lower the temperature, and to treat the skin with antiseptic and drying changes.
Varicella vaccine
The vaccine contains a live but weakened (attenuated) strain of the virus. It is applied subcutaneously in two doses. Its effectiveness exceeds 95%. It is well tolerated and rarely causes adverse vaccine reactions. However, there are some contraindications. It is pregnancy, decreased immunity, lymphomas or other cancers involving the bone marrow or the lymphatic system. The virus from the vaccine does not spread to the environment. Therefore, it is also recommended to immunize children of pregnant women or their relatives from the environment of people with immunodeficiency.