Chickenpox: What it is, Symptoms, Treatment and Prevention

Chickenpox, also called lechina, is a disease caused by the Varicella Zoster virus  , being highly contagious, manifesting itself through the appearance of hives or red blisters throughout the body and causing intense itching. Your treatment is done to control and relieve symptoms.

Chickenpox especially affects children, however, it can also be spread at any age, as long as the individual has never had it during childhood. Usually, in adults it is usually more severe, since the symptoms occur with greater intensity, and can generate some complications.

As chickenpox is a virus, the treatment indicated by the doctor is performed in order to relieve symptoms, and must remain at rest and drink plenty of fluids to help the body eliminate the virus from the body.

Main Symptoms

The symptoms of chickenpox usually arise up to 20 days after being in contact with a person who has the disease, causing the appearance of small round blisters filled with fluid and causing a lot of itchy skin.

The first symptoms that usually arise are low fever around 38ºC and the appearance of small blisters on the lateral part of the abdomen, which after the first day begin to spread throughout the body, emerging on the face, on the scalp, on the legs and arms, the latter being where they appear in smaller quantities.

In addition to this, chickenpox blisters can occur in different stages and, therefore, it is common to see some blisters with liquid while others already have a crust formed with the appearance of a welt, this means that they are already healing. While the blisters have fluid, the individual can spread to other people and therefore should not go to school or work.

In addition to this, other symptoms usually arise such as lack of appetite and malaise, which can leave the child or the individual unwilling and without strength, and in the case of babies there may also be agitation.

The symptoms of chickenpox in the baby are the same as mentioned above, but cough and runny nose may also occur before the appearance of blisters. Already in babies under 1 year of age, the symptoms are usually mild, causing only a few hives on the skin.

How the Diagnosis is Made

The diagnosis of chickenpox is made by the general practitioner or pediatrician from the evaluation of the signs and symptoms present and, if necessary, you can also request a blood test to confirm the virus.

Chickenpox Image

How the Treatment is Performed

Treatment for chickenpox is usually done to relieve the symptoms that cause illness, so the doctor may indicate the following care:

• Take Paracetamol to lower fever;
• Use an antiallergic ointment on wounds to relieve itching;
• Apply Povidine on the blisters to prevent infection and facilitate healing;
• Bathe 2 or 3 times a day with cold water and a soap with calamine to relieve itching;
• Cut your nails too short to avoid aggravating skin lesions;
• Wash your hands 3 times a day with an antiseptic soap such as Protex, for example;
• Avoid salty and acidic foods if there are wounds inside the mouth.

Some doctors recommend bathing with potassium permanganate to keep the skin clean, free of microorganisms and to help heal chickenpox wounds.
In cases of people with a weak immune system such as pregnant women, people with HIV and during cancer treatment, the doctor may recommend the use of an antiviral such as Acyclovir to help reduce the viral load of Chickenpox faster.

How is Chickenpox Spread

The spread of chickenpox occurs through contact with droplets of saliva, cough or sneeze of the individual who is infected and with direct contact with the liquid from the welts.

The individual is able to transmit the virus 1 to 2 days before the welts arise until all the blisters burst and form a scab. In this period you must keep the distance of other people, not having to frequent schools, the workplace or closed sites, such as a shopping center, for example.

Who already had chickenpox once is protected against the disease and cannot get chickenpox again. However, in some cases, contact with an individual with chickenpox can cause the development of shingles, better known as shingles, especially if the immune system of that person is compromised, as occurs in people with AIDS or who are in Cancer treatment,

Varicella Vaccine 

The chickenpox vaccine attenuates and prevents the spread of the virus against the most serious form of the disease. So if the individual is vaccinated and is infected with the virus, he will develop a much milder form of the disease. Generally the vaccinated individual has fewer blisters typical of chickenpox, to the point that sometimes he is not even diagnosed with the disease.

The vaccine can be administered from one year of age and in those who have not yet been infected with the virus. The chickenpox vaccine is part of the basic vaccination schedule for children, offered by the health system and should generally be placed at 15 months of age.

Possible Complications

The most common complication of chickenpox is that one of the blisters becomes infected, causing pain, swelling and redness around the wound, as shown in the last image.

It can be suspected that one of the blisters is infected when it takes a long time to heal, it remains moist when it is already there if the scab and the region around it swells, reddens and hardens. In these cases, the doctor may indicate the ingestion of an antibiotic such as Amoxicillin for 8 days.

Generally, this complication occurs when the child removes the scab and the region is not cleaned and disinfected properly. Other possible complications of chickenpox are:

• Encephalitis;
• Pneumonia;
• Reye's syndrome;
• Myocarditis;
• Transient arthritis;
• Cerebellar ataxia

These complications can arise when the individual scratches the skin or when he develops the most serious form of the disease, because he has the compromised immune system and was not properly treated with antivirals to decrease the viral load in the body.