Complications Of Chickenpox In Adults

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

Complications of chickenpox in adults

An acute viral disease such as chickenpox (chickenpox) can end in adults not only with mild complications in the form of a bacterial infection on the skin affected by viruses, but also severe, in the form of pneumonia of a bacterial or viral nature, as well as encephalitis and encephalomyelitis - brain lesions …

The consequences of chickenpox caused by exposure to the virus include:

- Chickenpox tracheitis or laryngitis - occurs as a result of damage to the mucous membrane of the respiratory tract with a profuse rash of a viral nature. They are accompanied by a dry, rough cough, pain along the trachea, difficulty breathing.

- Chickenpox pneumonia of a viral nature - manifested by a long-lasting cough and a general disorder of the patient's condition. Their course is rarely severe, often patients tolerate them unnoticed. The exception is severe viral pneumonia, which is characterized by high fever and persistent hysterical cough, sometimes mixed with blood. Such conditions require immediate hospitalization of the patient and active antiviral treatment in a hospital setting.

- Acute stomatitis - develops as a result of numerous chickenpox sores, leading to painful sensations when swallowing and chewing due to erosions formed on the soft and hard palate, oral mucosa and gums.

- Painful inflammation of the foreskin and glans of the penis in men - manifested as a result of the development of a drainage blistering rash on the genitals. In women, the mucous membrane of the labia is involved in this process, vulvitis develops.

- When the chickenpox virus affects nerve cells and meninges, chickenpox encephalitis and chickenpox meningitis develop. Patients may experience severe headache, accompanied by nausea and vomiting, seizures, loss of consciousness, impaired balance and coordination of movement. With proper treatment in a hospital, the neurological consequences of chickenpox usually go away quickly, after a few weeks a complete regression and recovery occurs.

- There may be complications of chickenpox such as serous or purulent arthritis, myocarditis, nephritis, hepatitis. Painful enlargement of regional lymph nodes is very often noted.

However, most often the effects of chickenpox remain on the skin. Although the virus infects only the upper layer of the epidermis, patients, due to unbearable itching, tear off the formed crusts and comb the erosion they have closed. This leads to the fact that after the complete healing of the rash, scars remain at the site of scratching. In most cases, after one to two months, they are completely smoothed out and gradually disappear. When the deeper layers of the epidermis are damaged, scars remain for life.

With reduced immunity, purulent-inflammatory diseases can develop, such as bullous streptoderma, abscesses, phlegmon, erysipelas, even if you strictly follow the rules of personal hygiene and all the doctor's recommendations.

At the site of bullous streptoderma caused by streptococci, large blisters with cloudy contents appear, increasing rapidly in size. After opening the bubbles, erosive surfaces are formed, growing along the periphery. With mixed infection, the blisters are yellow and subsequently yellow crusts form. The rash often coalesces and forms a solid crust on the skin. Treatment of such complications is usually long-term, often relapsing and is carried out strictly under the supervision of a doctor.

The incubation period of chickenpox in adults

If you were in direct contact with a person who after a while was sick with chickenpox, then do not rush to panic, because a person becomes contagious 2-3 days before the appearance of rashes on the body, and they develop about 10-23 days after infection.

It is known that practically every infectious disease has a latent course, when the infection has already entered the body, has begun to adapt and develop, but the clinical manifestations of the disease are still absent. This period is called the incubation period and it lasts until the first symptoms of the disease appear. Typically, the incubation period of chickenpox in adults consists of three stages:

1. Approximate start of the incubation period. It is considered from the moment of the first contact with a sick person, if the disease has already manifested itself in an acutely current form. This date is usually added to one or two days required for the chickenpox virus to take root in the human body.

2. Development of the incubation period. The causative agent at this time begins to multiply actively, its concentration in the body increases. First of all, the mucous membrane of the upper respiratory tract is affected, the virus adapts there and passes to neighboring cells, that is, the growth of infection occurs along the periphery.

3. End of the incubation period. When the amount of the pathogen reaches the required volume, it enters the bloodstream and is carried by the bloodstream throughout the body. At this stage, the virus enters the skin cells - the epidermis, causing the first symptom typical of chickenpox - a skin rash. The human immune system begins to actively resist infection and produce antibodies to the disease. As a result of this counteraction of viruses with antibodies, the patient's body temperature rises sharply, chills, and general malaise appear.

The incubation period is on average one to three weeks (it cannot be less than one week, but it can last more than three weeks). The difference in the duration of the incubation period depends on a number of reasons and a huge role in this is played by the volume of the chickenpox virus in the body at the time of infection, the degree of pathogenicity of this type of virus, and the state of the immune system. The place of human infection is also of great importance, since a much larger number of pathogens are usually present indoors than in the fresh air.

As clinical studies show, it is not necessary that the incubation period will take place in three stages, the clinical manifestations of the disease can begin in any of them. It is believed that seven days after contact with a patient with chickenpox, a person himself can serve as a source of infection, since it is not known exactly how quickly the virus multiplies in the body.

Chickenpox has one characteristic feature that makes it very dangerous for others: after the prescribed three weeks of the incubation period and in the absence of obvious clinical manifestations of the disease, a person can begin to lead a normal life, thinking that the danger of infection for others has passed.

There are known cases of the course of the disease in a latent form, when an insignificant amount of a rash may appear on the face and body of the sick person, not enough to suspect one of the symptoms of chickenpox. However, such a patient is capable of infecting others at the same time.

The end of the incubation period is the beginning of the manifestation of the first signs of the disease, while most often the body temperature rises and a rash appears, which is a direct indication for the isolation of the patient.

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".