How do you get chickenpox?
By VINS_VS
@VINS_VS (528)
India
November 16, 2006 2:30pm CST
Chickenpox is highly infectious and spreads from person to person by direct contact or through the air from an infected person’s coughing or sneezing. A persons with chickenpox is contagious 1-2 days before the rash appears and until all blisters have formed scabs. It takes from 10-21 days after contact with an infected person for someone to develop chickenpox.
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4 responses
@achilles7 (1276)
• India
20 Nov 06
Chickenpox is a virous diease. It is spread by contact only
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@SHATZYA (123)
• Romania
20 Nov 06
i guess you allready know now.. but anyway, i hope you dont get`it because you have to stay in cuarrantine for 1 week or so..
@anjuscor (1266)
• India
25 Jan 07
Chickenpox is a highly contagious disease that spreads from person to person by direct contact or through the air from an infected person’s coughing or sneezing. Touching the fluid from a chickenpox blister can also spread the disease. A person with chickenpox is contagious from 1–2 days before the rash appears until all blisters have formed scabs. This may take 5–10 days. It takes from 10–21 days after contact with an infected person for someone to develop chickenpox.
The chickenpox lesions (blisters) start as a 2–4 mm red papule which develops an irregular outline (rose petal). A thin-walled, clear vesicle (dew drop) develops on top of the area of redness. This "dew drop on a rose petal" lesion is very characteristic for chickenpox. After about 8–12 hours the fluid in the vesicle gets cloudy and the vesicle breaks leaving a crust. The fluid is highly contagious, but once the lesion crusts over, it is not considered contagious. The crust usually falls off after 7 days sometimes leaving a crater-like scar. Although one lesion goes through this complete cycle in about 7 days, another hallmark of chickenpox is the fact that new lesions crop up every day for several days. Therefore, it may take about a week until new lesions stop appearing and existing lesions crust over. Children are not sent back to school until all lesions have crusted over.
Second infections with chickenpox occur in immunocompetent individuals, but are uncommon. Such second infections are rarely severe. A soundly-based conjecture being carefully assessed in countries with low prevalence of chickenpox due to immunisation, low birth rates, and increased separation is that immunity has been reinforced by subclinical challenges and this is now less common. This is more dangerous with shingles. There have been reported cases of repeat infections.
@anjuscor (1266)
• India
25 Jan 07
Chickenpox, also spelled chicken pox, is the common name for Varicella simplex, classically one of the childhood infectious diseases caught and survived by most children.
Chickenpox is caused by the varicella-zoster virus (VZV), also known as human herpes virus 3 (HHV-3), one of the eight herpes viruses known to affect humans. It starts with conjunctival and catarrhal symptoms, moderate fever and then characteristic spots appearing in two or three waves, mainly on the body and head rather than the hands and becoming itchy raw pox (pocks), small open sores which heal mostly without scarring.
Chickenpox has a 10-14 day incubation period and is highly contagious by air transmission two days before symptoms appear. Following primary infection there is usually lifelong protective immunity from further episodes of chickenpox. Recurrent chickenpox is fairly rare but more likely in people with compromised immune systems.
Symptomatic treatment, with calamine lotion to ease itching and paracetamol (American English: acetaminophen) to reduce fever, is widely used.
Chickenpox is rarely fatal (usually from varicella pneumonia), with pregnant women and those with depressed immune systems being more at risk. Pregnant women not known to be immune and who come into contact with chickenpox may need urgent treatment as the virus can cause serious problems for the fetus.
Later in life, viruses remaining dormant in the nerves can reactivate causing localised eruptions of shingles. This occurs particularly in people with compromised immune systems, such as the elderly, and perhaps even those suffering sunburn. Unlike chickenpox which normally fully settles, shingles may result in persisting post-herpetic neuralgia pain.
A chickenpox vaccine has been available since 1995, and is now required in some countries for children to be admitted into elementary school unless the parent/guardian submits an exemption. In addition, effective medications (e.g. aciclovir) are available to treat chickenpox in healthy adults and immunocompromised persons.
