Your Child and the Dreaded Chicken Pox

Even though there is now a vaccine available for chicken pox some people neglect to get their children vaccinated or a very small percentage may still get them even after being vaccinated.  Chicken pox is very contagious and is caused by the varicella-zoster virus. It can be spread by the air, direct contact with an infected person or contaminated droplets that may have been expelled with a sneeze or a cough.

If your child does develop chicken pox they will be covered with hundreds of itchy red blisters that will later break and then forming a crusty covering.  They will normally show up on the face first, and then spread to the stomach area, the scalp and then the rest of the body. The blisters will usually break a day or so after they show up.  However it's the itching that drives people crazy, as it can be quite intense.  In some cases it may leave scars for life.

To relieve the itching you should apply a prescribed lotion along with an oral antihistamine. You can also give the child some relief by bathing them in warm water and oatmeal.

 If your child has been exposed to chicken pox they will normally develop symptoms within 48 hrs but it's usually 10-20 days later that the poxes will start appearing. Other symptoms include headache, fever, loss of appetite, stomach pain and then of course the pox rash.  The doctor can determine a diagnosis by taking a sample of the blisters or a blood test.

Once a person has had the chicken pox they will carry the virus with them for life but the immune system will keep it under control to prevent a reoccurrence.  If a mother has already had chicken pox sometimes a baby will get partial immunity from her. If a child who got the chicken pox vaccine still gets them they will have a milder case than they would other wise. Since the vaccine became available there has been far less cases of chicken pox reported.  Young children under the age of 10 are more likely to get chicken pox, but even so, older children or adults can still get them and if they do it usually hits them harder than it would a younger child.