Chicken Pox

Chicken Pox in Newborns and Children

Chicken pox is a highly infectious disease and is caused by varicella zoster virus. The virus is a member of the herpes virus family. The chicken pox is an acute infection characterized by itchy rash all over the body along with flu like symptoms; but the fearing part is that it affects the children the most.

Studies show that about 75% to 95 % of the total cases of chicken pox are seen among the children who are less than 10 years of age. However, the disease is milder in children than in adults.

Chicken pox is a communicable disease and it is transmitted by face to face contact with an infected person. The air helps in the spread of the disease as it carries the tiny droplets of infection from the patient’s mouth, throat, saliva, and nose in the form of coughing, sneezing etc. chicken pox can also spread through the articles that are soiled by the discharges of the infected person.

A child can get the infection from his siblings or from his school. So, a child with chicken pox should not be allowed to go to school until the entire rash is cured.

The symptoms of chicken pox in a child can vary from very mild illness with a few rash scattered all over the body to widespread lesions along with severe itchiness and fever.

Before the rash comes out, the child suffers from a sudden rise of temperature with body ache and shivering. This phase is brief and may stay for about 24 hours.

Often the appearance of the rash is the first symptom in children. The rash is first seen on the abdomen and at the back and is abundant on these areas. Then it spreads to other parts like face, arms, legs, mouth, throat, genitals where the rash is comparatively less. Generally rashes are not found in palms and soles.

The rash typically looks like a fluid filled blister surrounded by an area of redness. The blisters gradually become cloudy and break becoming open sores. The sores then dry up and form hard, brown colored crusts termed as scabs. Scabbing takes nearly 4-7 days after the appearance of the rash.

Fever is mild and ranges from 1000-1020 Fahrenheit but it may rise with fresh bouts of rashes. Generally, chicken pox is mild. But the kids who have less immunity the disease becomes more severe. They may develop serious complications like infections in lungs (pneumonia), ears, bones, joints, skin and brain (encephalitis).

Children suffering from chicken pox should not be given aspirin as it may result in life threatening conditions.

Chicken Pox, Pregnancy and Newborns

Pregnant mothers should not come in contact with patients of chicken pox. If she had suffered from chicken pox before her pregnancy, she can pass on her immunity through the placenta and breast milk to the developing fetus which may get protection in the first few months of its life. But if the mother suffers from chicken pox during her pregnancy or during delivery, the baby can have serious birth defects and the condition can be fatal in the newborn.

A single bout of chicken pox generally provides a lifelong immunity. But children who are receiving immune-suppressive drugs or the newborns who have been exposed to the infection may be given varicella zoster immune globulin to lessen the severity of the disease.