It is highly contagious. If an adult develops chickenpox, the illness may be more severe. After a person has had chickenpox, the varicella-zoster virus can remain inactive in the body for many years.
Herpes zoster shingles occurs when the virus becomes active again. Chickenpox first occurs as a blister-like skin rash and fever. It takes from days after exposure for someone to develop chickenpox.
The sores commonly occur in batches with different stages bumps, blisters, and sores present at the same time. The blisters usually scab over in 5 days. A person with chickenpox is contagious days before the rash appears and until all blisters have formed scabs.
Children with weakened immune systems may have blisters occurring for a prolonged time period. Section Navigation. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Syndicate. Minus Related Pages. Varicela: Lo que debe saber. Links with this icon indicate that you are leaving the CDC website. Learn more. Chickenpox is a common childhood disease.
It causes an itchy, blistering rash and is easily spread to others. Until the varicella vaccine was licensed in , chickenpox infection was very common. Almost everyone had been infected as a child. Now a vaccine is available to prevent chickenpox. Two doses of the vaccine are recommended for children, teens, and nonimmune adults. The disease is caused by the varicella-zoster virus.
It is easily passed from person-to-person by direct contact or through the air by coughing or sneezing. Any child or adult who has never had chickenpox or been vaccinated against it is at risk for getting the disease.
Chickenpox is passed from person-to-person by direct contact or through the air by coughing and sneezing. It can also be spread by being exposed to the fluid from the blistering rash. Once exposed, symptoms usually appear within a couple of weeks.
But it may take as few as 10 and as many as 21 days for the chickenpox to develop. Chickenpox is contagious for 1 to 2 days before the rash starts and until the blisters have all dried and become scabs.
The blisters usually dry and become scabs within 5 to 7 days of the onset of the rash. Children should stay home and away from other children until all of the blisters have scabbed over.
It is important that people who are infected avoid those with weak immune systems, such as those with organ transplants, HIV, or those getting cancer treatment. Family members who have never had chickenpox have a high chance of becoming infected when another family member in the house is infected. Children and adults can be immunised against chickenpox. Children with chickenpox should not go to school, kindergarten or childcare until the last blister has dried.
Tell your child's school, kindergarten or childcare if your child has chickenpox, as other children may need to be immunised or treated. For most healthy people, chickenpox is mild and the person recovers fully without specific treatment. Complications do occur in approximately one per cent of cases. Chickenpox is more severe in adults and in anyone of any age with impaired immunity.
Immunisation is the best way to prevent chickenpox. For chickenpox, the time from infection to the appearance of the rash incubation period is around 14 to 16 days. A few days before the appearance of the rash, the person may feel feverish and have a sore throat and headache. The skin may be marked for some months after the rash has cleared. Nine out of ten pregnant women have immunity against chickenpox.
Although contact with chickenpox is common during pregnancy, few women become infected during pregnancy approximately 3 in 1, pregnancies have complications caused by chickenpox. If you have chickenpox for the first time during pregnancy, you can become seriously ill with conditions such as pneumonia, hepatitis and encephalitis.
If you are infected with chickenpox in the first 20 weeks of pregnancy, there is a risk to the baby of congenital varicella syndrome, which can cause abnormalities. After 20 weeks, the risk is lower. Shingles occurs in people who have previously had chickenpox, but it does not appear to cause complications for unborn babies. An infected person is contagious for one to two days possibly five days before the onset of the rash and remains infectious until the blisters form scabs usually around day five of the illness.
Chickenpox is usually diagnosed by physical examination. The diagnosis can also be confirmed using tests such as taking a sample of the blister fluid to check for the presence of the virus. In cases of severe illness, treatment with an antiviral medication may be needed.
In most cases, chickenpox is mild and gets better without the need for specific treatment. As well as causing chickenpox, the varicella-zoster virus can cause shingles in some people who have had chickenpox.
Following an attack of chickenpox, the virus becomes latent lies dormant in nerve cells in the body. The dormant virus may reactivate, causing shingles later in life. One in three adults will be affected in their lifetime.
The incidence and severity increase with age.
0コメント