Chickenpox
(Varicella)
Chickenpox
was once considered a rite of passage for most children.
Before 1995 — when a vaccine for chickenpox became
available in the United States — about 4 million
Americans, mostly children, contracted chickenpox each
year. Thanks to the vaccine, the number of cases and
hospitalizations is down dramatically.
However, when chickenpox
does occur, it's highly contagious among people who
aren't immune. The red, itchy rash is caused by the
varicella-zoster virus, which is part of a group of
viruses called herpes viruses. It is transmitted easily
from person to person through airborne spread of
respiratory tract secretions or vesicular fluid, and by
direct contact with a person who has it.
Most people think of chickenpox as a mild disease — and, for most, it is. Chickenpox usually lasts
about one-and-a-half to two weeks and rarely causes complications. But the disease can be serious, even in healthy
children.
People who have had chickenpox disease can have a more localized subsequent eruption of vesicles on
one specific area of the body (known as herpes zoster), years after their initial case of chickenpox.
When herpes zoster occurs, it is most often accompanied by severe pain
There's no way to know which infected child or adult will develop a severe case. However, the
chickenpox vaccine is a safe, effective way to prevent chickenpox and its possible complications.
In the small number of cases when the vaccine doesn't stop chickenpox completely, the resulting
infection is much milder than the infections that put most U.S. children into bed for a week years ago.
- (Source: MayoClinic.com)
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