Chickenpox
What is it?
Chickenpox is a viral infection caused by the varicella zoster virus.
Chickenpox tends to affect children under ten - most children have had it by this age. In older children and adults, chickenpox can be more severe.
It's more common in late winter and spring.
Symptoms
The incubation period (from exposure to onset of symptoms) is 14 to 24 days. The initial symptoms are mild fever and headache, and feeling generally unwell.
These are followed within hours by the appearance of a typical rash. Crops of red spots appear, which quickly develop fluid-filled blisters that are intensely itchy. After a couple of days these scab over and dry up.
The rash mostly affects the trunk but may be anywhere on the body, including the scalp and in the mouth. In about one in ten cases symptoms are so minimal the infection goes unnoticed.
The most common complication is a secondary infection with bacteria, such as staphylococcus or streptococcus, which can lead to potentially fatal conditions, such as toxic shock syndrome. A persistently high fever or return of fever should raise suspicions.
Diagnosis and treatment
See your doctor if you're unsure of the diagnosis or if your child seems particularly unwell, has a cough, headache, if the skin is particularly inflamed or looks infected, or there are other worrying symptoms. For young babies or children with immunity problems, always seek medical advice.
Check your child’s’ temperature, and give pain and fever relieving syrup with plenty of cool drinks. Calamine lotion and antihistamine medicines may relieve the itching.
Keep your child's hands clean and fingernails short and try to encourage them not to scratch the spots, as they can scar. The spots may be infectious until they've fully scabbed over, but no child should need to be excluded from school for more than five days.
Most children recover without long-term problems. But children at high risk who are exposed to chickenpox must be treated with immunoglobulin injections to prevent the infection, or antiviral drugs to treat it. There is also a vaccine that can be given to prevent chickenpox.
After infection the virus lies dormant in the body but can emerge later to cause shingles.
