Chicken Pox – What You Should Know About This Infectious Disease
Chicken Pox is the common name for Varicella simplex, classically one of the childhood infectious diseases caught and survived by most children.
Chicken Pox is caused by the varicella-zoster virus. It starts with moderate fever and then characteristic spots appearing in two or three waves, mainly on the body and head rather than the hands and becoming itchy raw pox (pocks), small open sores which heal mostly without scarring.
Chicken Pox has a two-week incubation period and is highly contagious by air transmission two days before symptoms appear. Therefore, Chicken Pox spreads quickly through schools and other places of close contact. Once someone has been infected with the disease, they usually develop protective immunity for life. It is fairly rare to get the Chicken Pox multiple times, but it is possible for people with irregular immune systems. As the disease is more severe if contracted by an adult, parents have been known to ensure their children become infected before adulthood.
The disease can be fatal. Pregnant women and those with immune system depression are more at...