Kids and Health Care: Chicken Pox
Chicken pox is a common disease caused by the varicella-zoster virus (VZV), which is part of the herpes virus family.
Don't get upset by the name; the herpes virus family is made up of nearly 100 viruses. The group does include herpes simplex -- the "herpes" that most adults know of -- but it also includes Epstein-Barr virus (which causes infectious mononucleosis) and others.
Chicken pox includes flu-like symptoms -- fever, headache, runny nose, muscle and joint soreness. But its most distinctive symptom comes a day or two after the others: blister-like legions that give the illness its name. The blisters usually appear on the chest, back or face first; but they eventually appear over the entire body. In two to four days, the blisters burst and harden into small scabs. The scabs fall off a few days after that.
Although chicken pox is most common in kids under the age of 15, anyone can get it. In the 1990s, an antiviral vaccine was developed that can prevent chicken pox in children and adults. While the vaccine isn't 100 percent effective, it does tend to reduce the effects of chicken pox in the cases where a vaccinated person contracts the illness.
While most people consider chicken pox a relatively minor rite of passage through childhood, it can cause some serious health problems. In a few cases, it causes serious inflammation of the nervous system and brain swelling; these problems can leave long-term damage. Slightly more often, a chicken pox legion will erupt in a child's stomach, intestines, eyes or a mucus membrane lining and cause serious infection. And chicken pox is a serious risk during pregnancy -- it can cause major problems for the fetus, including deafness and nervous system problems.
A person usually has only one episode of chicken pox in his or her life, though there are some exceptions to this rule. The virus can lie dormant within the body and can cause a different type of skin eruption later in life, called shingles (also known as herpes-zoster). Shingles is notoriously painful and poses a greater risk of lasting nervous-system damage.
The chicken pox virus is very contagious. It spreads in the air through coughs or sneezes or through contact with fluid from inside the chicken pox blisters. If exposed to an infected family member, 80 to 90 percent of those in a household who haven't had chicken pox will get it.
If your kids get chicken pox, your best course of action will be to do all that you can to keep them from scratching. Good steps for doing this:
- frequent baths in lukewarm water mixed with baking soda (four or five baths a day aren't too many);
- apply calamine lotion as needed to the skin -- be prepared to apply a lot of it;
- give them an antihistamine like Benadryl or an equivalent brand for itching;
- give them acetaminophen for fevers above 102 degrees;
- if they get blisters in their mouths, have them rinse with warm water mixed with baking soda or a light hydrogen peroxide solution -- make sure they don't swallow either;
- if blisters look infected, wash them well and apply an antiviral ointment like Neosporin or Bacitracin.
You may feel tempted to take an uncomfortable child to the emergency room for help with the chicken pox. In most cases, the staff there will focus on the child's temperature -- and usually won't take much action unless the fever is over 102 degrees. But it is a good idea to speak with your pediatrician's office about your child's chicken pox; they will probably want the child to come in, for a checkup to make sure none of the more serious nervous-system problems are afoot.
A child with chicken pox should usually stay out of school or daycare for five to seven days -- or until the blisters have all scabbed over. When the scabs appear, the contagious stage is largely over.
