Chicken Pox Information

Chicken pox is one of the last childhood diseases that is not widely immunized against. Very few children will escape getting this virus unless immunization becomes more popular. If your child gets the chicken pox there are many things that you can do to make them more comfortable. This article will go over how the disease is spread, the symptoms, the specifics of quarantine and what a parent can do to make the case lighter and not develop into the dangerous complications that can occur.

Chicken pox is caused the varicella-zoster herpes virus. It is highly contagious and spreads very quickly in the first few days of incubation. Children spread the disease by coughing, sneezing, laughing and sharing toys that have mucous on it from an infected child. A child with chickenpox is contagious for several days before any symptoms are noticeable. Any child playing with him will more than likely catch the disease.

Chicken pox starts with a headache, lack of appetite, a tired feeling and a fever. A couple of days later small red dots show up on the skin. Usually on the trunk, stomach and back. As the disease progresses the spots move onto the neck, face, head and extremities. The red dots get a small clear head in their center that look like pimples. These little blisters erupt and a clear fluids leak out and then new clusters of blisters appear for up to 5 days. All the blisters begin to scab over after about 5 days of their appearance. The scabs will last about 2 weeks and then fall off.

The quarantine period of chicken pox begins as soon as you realize that your child has the disease until all the blisters are scabbed over. If your child has been exposed to another child with chicken pox they can get the disease anywhere from one to 21 days later. And if they do get it, you usually do not know they have the disease until a couple of days after they are contagious. Do not let a child that could potentially have chicken pox around people who are elderly, sick or would otherwise not want the disease for 21 days. You can ease the symptoms and adverse effects of chicken pox in a number of different ways. One way is to ease the intense itching of the blisters to minimize scarring. Chicken pox scar very easily and the scar lasts for life.

Give your child an antihistamine to relieve the itching. Viscous Xylocaine is a local anesthetic that can be used as a mouth rinse to decrease the itching in the mouth if that is where blisters are. Let your child soak in a tub of burrow’s solution which is available in the drug store, it dries up the weeping blisters and stops itching. Also, an oatmeal bath is very soothing. You can use regular store bought oatmeal and grind it in your blender and throw it in a warm bathtub. Apply calamine lotion to every blister to dry them up and relieve itching.

Do not give your child any fever reducer that contains aspirin. A child who has the symptoms of any viral disease and given aspirin can develop into Reyes syndrome and death could occur. Only administer acetaminophen to relieve pain and bring down a fever. Give your child plenty of juice. Lots of Vitamin A and Vitamin C. If your child has a scab that won’t fall off and it appears that the skin is growing up around it, do not peel off the scab. Peeling off a scab causes scarring. Give your child soaks in a warm tub to make the scab fall off by itself.