Chickenpox is a very common disease that occurs most often during childhood. The majority of our children and the United States will catch the disease at some point in their early lifetime. In addition, chickenpox is an illness that is considered to be extremely contagious, since the disease is actually an airborne one. Also, being inside a room with someone who has been infected with chickenpox allows for a non-infected person to contract this illness.
What are the Specific Symptoms of Chickenpox?
Symptoms of chickenpox include, but are not limited to, mild health problems that resemble the common cold and flu. These symptoms include tummy aches, fever, loss of appetite in children, and painful headaches. The symptoms are occasionally accompanied by hundreds, if not thousands, of Litchfield blisters that make the child itch day and night. Most of the recorded chickenpox cases occur in boys and girls that have not yet reached their first decade of life.
Chickenpox viruses tend to remain in a person's body for the rest of his or her life even after the person has recovered from the disease and the apparent symptoms have gone away. The virus can return in the form of flare-ups and shingles, especially if the victim has experienced a tremendous amount of stress.
Even so, the illness tends to occur mostly in children around nine years of age and is most often considered to be mild. The cases are more severe when adolescence and adults contract chickenpox. In certain instances, chickenpox can cause a number of undesirable complications. These complications are described in the following paragraph.
Secondary infections may come about without prior warning, especially when the blisters are constantly scratched and scarring ensues. It's important to remember that newborns are at risk of severe complications if the parent is not immune to the illness.
If the mother of a newborn has not had the disease previously in life she will not be immune, and thus there will be major problems. There are other complications of chickenpox that have been recorded. These complications include cerebellar ataxia, Reye’s syndrome, and encephalitis. It is therefore very important to watch out for collateral complications when chickenpox attacks.
How is Chickenpox Treated?
Chickenpox is treated via a variety of different ways. Perhaps the most notorious misconception about this disease is that chickenpox can be treated via antibiotics because chickenpox is caused by a virus rather than a particular type of bacteria. It may be wise to try to treat blisters as soon as possible in order to avoid worsening the situation by scratching the blisters until they begin to bleed.
Trimming nails in young children and babies is always a good thing to do in order to avoid personal injury. You can also put scratch-proof mittens on babies so they do not scratch themselves to the point where there are visible scars on the body. Calamine lotion has been used to deter the amount of scratching a chickenpox patient does, as baking soda has also been used in this regard.
Baking soda is becoming increasingly popular as a natural remedy to treating chickenpox. Some reports have suggested that baking soda is more effective than calamine lotion when it comes to reduction of the itching.
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References:
WebMD
Emedicine
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