Chickenpox - Causes And Symptoms Of Chickenpox

2024 Author: Josephine Shorter | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 21:43

Chickenpox causes and symptoms

Chickenpox is an extremely contagious infectious disease. As they say, it spreads with the speed of the wind. A person becomes a carrier of the disease two days before the first symptoms are discovered. It is because of this feature that 90% of the population have time to get sick with chickenpox in childhood. Without acquiring immunity against this disease at the age of 3-12, there is a risk of feeling it on yourself in adulthood. Despite similar symptoms, the causative agent of chickenpox in the body of adults behaves much more aggressively: a longer period of the disease, more profuse rash, increased itching, fever up to 40 ° C, painful swallowing, the formation of pustules, a general breakdown, possible complications.

If you are sick, you will have to establish quarantine and postpone all personal contacts for at least two weeks. Surely in your environment there are those who have not yet acquired lifelong immunity to chickenpox.

The main irrefutable symptom is a rash that appears all over the body (on the chest and abdomen, arms and legs, face, in the hair on the head, tongue, palate, nose and even in the perineum). The rash will turn into blisters with a diameter of 2-3 mm filled with fluid. The bubbles itch unbearably, but a test of endurance awaits you, since it is absolutely impossible to scratch them. This threatens with scars and scars at the site of the blisters, and if this is the area of the eyebrows, beard and mustache, then an ugly bald patch.

What is chickenpox?

Chickenpox is one of the most common acute infectious diseases. It is characterized by rashes on the skin and mucous membranes in the form of small blisters and fever. It is transmitted by airborne droplets. Chickenpox most often affects children and adolescents. It is believed that it is better to have chickenpox in childhood, since with age this disease proceeds in a complicated form: with encephalitis, primary varicella pneumonia.

Chickenpox causes

The disease is caused by a virus of the herpes family. The susceptibility of the population to this virus is very high, therefore 70-90% of people manage to transfer the disease in childhood or adolescence. Typically, a child gets the infection in kindergarten or school. The source of the disease is an infected person in the last 10 days of the incubation period of the virus and the first 5-7 days after the onset of the rash.

After the transferred chickenpox, lifelong immunity is formed, but re-infection also occurs. The virus can "sleep" for years in the body of a person who has had chickenpox and at one point "wake up". The cause may be nervous strain or stress. In such cases, the adult may develop shingles. Having no obvious signs of a rash, however, such a person is a spread of the disease.

It is also possible to become infected with the virus through the placenta - from mother to unborn baby.

For pregnant women, it is especially dangerous, as it can cause the development of congenital chickenpox in a child, premature birth or lead to the death of the fetus.

Complications of chickenpox usually occur in connection with a concomitant secondary infection (abscess, pyoderma, sepsis, phlegmon). Sometimes a week after the onset of the rash, viral-allergic meningoencephalitis develops. There are also known cases of focal myocarditis and nephritis.

Chickenpox symptoms

The incubation period lasts 1 to 3 weeks. Children are characterized by general malaise, headache, hyperexcitability, decreased appetite and tearfulness. In adults during this period, an increase in body temperature, ailments, headache, nausea and vomiting are often diagnosed.

The next stage in the development of the disease is associated with the appearance of a rash on the skin and mucous membranes. The body temperature rises, the level of intoxication of the body increases. The rash appears earlier in children than in adults. In adults, intoxication is more pronounced, and the fever lasts much longer.

The skin becomes covered with small red spots. After a few hours, they become convex and turn into small bubbles. The rash spreads randomly throughout the body, but is most often localized to the head, neck, face, chest, and abdomen. The bubbles contain a clear liquid. After 1-2 days, the bubbles dry up, and crusts form in their place. Sometimes ulcers may appear. Scars may remain after crust rejection. In this case, there is a deterioration in the general condition of the patient. The lesions of the epidermis become deeper. In adults, the vesicles almost always transform into abscesses; the rash lasts longer and spreads more profusely than in children; the crusts fall off later.

Over the course of the disease, more and more new spots appear, accompanied by an increase in body temperature. With the appearance of bubbles in children and adults, severe itching begins, especially on the mucous membranes.

The clinical stage of chickenpox lasts 5 to 8 days. Simultaneously with the cessation of the rash, intoxication also disappears. The vast majority have a favorable outcome of the disease.

Shingles as a complication of chickenpox

The insidiousness of the chickenpox virus is that, once infecting a person, it does not disappear, but for years it lives latently in the body and as a result of stress can remind of itself in adulthood with shingles.

The source of infection in most cases is a patient with shingles. However, the virus can become active after contact with a patient with chickenpox.

Susceptibility to shingles has been observed in people in the 50 and older age group. More than half of the elderly manage to survive the disease. This is due to the fact that with age, immunity weakens in people, chronic diseases appear, and the body becomes susceptible to viruses.

Typically, with shingles, rashes appear on one side of the body (front or back) along the affected nerve. Sometimes the rash is located on the head and face. The disease is diagnosed with red patches on the skin, itching, burning and tingling of the skin.

Pain, like a rash, is localized to one side of the body. In addition, the patient complains of weakness, weakness, high temperature.

The next stage of the disease is the formation of bubbles filled with liquid. They burst, and ulcers appear in their place. Recovery lasts two to five weeks as the sores heal and crust over. The disease reminds of itself for a long time with painful sensations along the course of the affected nerve.

Shingles is dangerous with complications: rheumatism, arthritis, pneumonia, myocarditis, neuralgia. To prevent them, antiherpetic drugs are taken.

Other forms of chickenpox

Along with the typical forms of chickenpox, there are also erased forms that can occur without clinical manifestations. These forms of the disease are considered severe. These include:

• The bullous form is a concomitant serious illness that develops only in adult patients. It is characterized by the formation of large, flabby blisters on the skin, turning into sluggishly healing ulcers.
• Hemorrhagic form - observed in patients with hemorrhagic diathesis. Typical for her is the appearance of vesicles with bloody contents, the development of hematuria, nosebleeds. Patients have hemorrhages on the skin.
• Gangrenous form - occurs in debilitated patients, proceeds against the background of a rapid increase in vesicles in size and the transformation of their contents into a hemorrhagic form. After the ulcers dry out, black crusts are formed with an inflammatory rim.

Chickenpox can lead to severe complications associated with exposure to the virus and the body's response to it, for example, chickenpox laryngitis, tracheitis, encephalitis, meningitis. Deep lesions of the skin epidermis with the formation of noticeable scars are also possible. With the spread of chickenpox flora, complications of the disease such as nephritis, hepatitis, myocarditis, arthritis can be observed. Secondary attachment of bacterial flora and purulent inflammation is also possible.

Chickenpox in pregnant women

Chickenpox in pregnant women deserves a separate discussion. In addition to the risk for the expectant mother, there is a danger for the fetus. As a result of chickenpox, the course of pregnancy can be disrupted and even interrupted spontaneously. That is why the treatment of chickenpox for pregnant women should be carried out under the strict supervision of a doctor. Do not worry too much, because anomalies in such a newborn are diagnosed in only one case out of a hundred. With chickenpox without complications, premature birth and spontaneous abortions in women were not noted.

However, deviations are sometimes possible, since the virus can penetrate the fetus from the mother through the placenta. Cases of congenital defects, pathologies of the visual apparatus, mental and physical retardation, paralysis are described.

It has been noticed that chickenpox disease in an expectant mother in the early stages (up to 3.5 months) is practically not dangerous for the fetus. With the development of chickenpox for up to 5 months, the risk for the unborn baby slightly increases, and from 5 to 9 months it is almost reduced to zero. The last days of gestation are an exception. They constitute the main danger. If a pregnant woman falls ill a few days before giving birth, then in 15% of cases the virus infects the internal organs of the baby. To prevent this situation, the mother and the newborn are given serum with antibodies as soon as possible. The baby is isolated from the mother until the danger of infection has passed.

Chickenpox treatment

Chickenpox is treated at home and only in severe cases - in the hospital. The decision on hospitalization is made by the attending physician.

As a rule, no special therapy is required. The patient should be isolated until the rash stops. A child and an adult with chickenpox is recommended to bed rest for up to 8 days. It is advisable to change bed linen as often as possible, and underwear - every day. Clothes made from soft natural fabrics are suitable.

The patient needs to drink more fluids and follow a lacto-vegetable diet (puree from mashed fruits and vegetables, milk porridge). It is better to dilute juices with water in a 1: 1 ratio. Sour, spicy and salty foods should be excluded from the patient's diet.

At home, red spots and bubbles are treated with brilliant green or 1-2% potassium permanganate solution. If rashes appear in the mouth, mouthwashes with antimicrobial agents (for example, furacilin solution) should be performed.

Throughout the entire period of the illness, the patient is worried about constant itching (methods of treating itching). However, scratching can introduce infection into the wound. If this happens, the spots on the skin take longer to heal and may even remain as scars. It is best to cut the nails short, and the baby should put cotton gloves on the handles. In addition, itching worsens with the appearance of sweat, so doctors do not advise wrapping the patient in warm blankets. It is worth noting that warm indoor air also aggravates itching. It is best to give the patient a damp, cold napkin - let it apply to the places that you want to scratch.

Medicines containing ibuprofen or paracetamol are used to reduce fever. With chickenpox, aspirin is contraindicated, which increases the susceptibility to the development of Reye's syndrome.

Antiviral medications are sometimes prescribed to reduce the severity of the illness. These can be antibiotics or immunoglobulin.

Chickenpox vaccine for adults

The disease transferred in childhood usually gives persistent lifelong immunity. But for people who did not get sick in childhood, and for those who are at risk of developing severe forms of the disease, there is the possibility of vaccination. The vaccines "Varilrix" and "Okavax" are officially registered in Russia.

The chickenpox vaccine forms a stable and long-term immunity in the human body. Suitable for both routine and emergency vaccinations. If the vaccine is administered within the first 72 hours after the first contact with the patient, then protection against infection is almost 100% guaranteed.

No side effects or serious complications of vaccination have been reported, so these drugs can be used in people with weakened immunity or with severe chronic diseases.

Article author: Mochalov Pavel Alexandrovich | d. m. n. therapist

Education: Moscow Medical Institute. IM Sechenov, specialty - "General Medicine" in 1991, in 1993 "Occupational Diseases", in 1996 "Therapy".