Facts
• The disease is caused by the varicellazoster virus.
• Transmission occurs through close contact with an infected person.
• It is more prevalent during the late winter and spring.
• The incubation period is 7-21 days after being exposed.
• Chicken pox is contagious from 24 hours before the onset of the rash until all the vesicles have crusted, about seven days later.
Symptoms
• The disease usually begins with a low-grade fever, malaise and headache.
• Those symptoms are followed by the characteristic rash on a red base.
• The first pocks are flat, red and about 2 mm across. Within hours, though, they become vesicles filled with clear fluid. Within a day, the rash progresses through a pustular phase and then becomes crusted and dry.
• A highly characteristic feature of chicken pox is that all the different stages of the lesions may be found at the same time on the child's body.
• The eruption generally begins on the chest, back and face and continues to spread for three to five days.
• As most people know, this rash is extremely itchy and uncomfortable.
Treatment
• Treatment goals include alleviating itch, controlling fever and preventing secondary bacterial skin infections.
• Aveeno baths, calamine lotion and antihistamines such as Benadryl are helpful in controlling the itchiness.
• Your child's nails should be kept short so as to avoid scratching the lesions, which can scar.
