Chickenpox is a viral infection that manifests itself in the form of a skin rash with a watery content, most often defined as a childhood disease, but it also occurs in adults. It is believed that the basis of chicken pox is the herpes virus, which in this case is transmitted by airborne droplets during communication and close contact of children and adults. Most often, this is a disease that manifests itself in children under 12 years of age. But sometimes adults get it.
According to doctors, chickenpox in childhood is easy enough, which can not be said about adults. They tolerate diseases quite hard, complications may occur. Why is chickenpox dangerous? The causative agent of this disease, causes and treatment methods will be considered in this article.
In what places can you get chickenpox?
Most often, smallpox infects smallpox in conditions of nurseries and kindergartens, schools, playgrounds in the courtyard of a residential building, in children's cafes, etc. Due to the transmission of the virus by airborne droplets, the virus spreads quite easily when children are in mass places. You can get chickenpox no more than 2 times. This is different for chicken pox. The causative agent will be discussed below.
After an experienced disease, antibodies are formed in the body that form an immunity to this disease. Therefore, adults who are convinced that they had chickenpox in their childhood, popularly called chickenpox, come into contact with a sick child without fear. It is often difficult to understand that a child or an adult has contracted chickenpox, since the incubation period of the disease is twenty-one days. The causative agent of chickenpox has already settled in the body.
Therefore, a child infected with chickenpox continues to visit public places and spread the virus. Under such circumstances, an entire epidemic of chickenpox infection often passes in kindergartens and schools. Doctors believe that the massive spread of infection over a period of time minimizes further outbreaks of chickenpox. The causative agent (transmission methods - airborne) quickly enters the body, a fleeting contact is sufficient for this.
So, having been ill at the same time, part of the group in kindergarten is a partial guarantee of the absence of chickenpox in children during this year.
The causative agent of chickenpox
Microbiology confirms that the causative agent of the disease is the Strongyloplasma varicella virus, which has an icosahedral form. Refers to DNA-containing viruses.
It is believed that smallpox virus and herpes zoster virus (herpes zoster) are virions of the same virus, morphologically and structurally identical to the herpes simplex virus.
How does chickenpox manifest itself?
The causative agent of the disease is the third type of herpes virus infection.
Chicken pox is characterized by abundant rashes on the skin in the form of red vesicles with liquid. Initially, the patient begins severe itching, and after that there are small rashes, which are subsequently filled with liquid.
Bursting, such bubbles leave traces. Smallpox can sometimes persist as scars throughout life. It is not recommended to comb the already manifested rashes. They mainly cover the back, armpits, skin of the head, arms and legs, face and scalp. If chickenpox is an adult, then it has more difficulty due to rashes on the scalp, genitals due to processing.
In addition to itching and rashes, chickenpox is often accompanied by increased body temperature of 37-39 degrees, headache, weakness in the muscles. In adults, with chickenpox, the temperature can stay at a level of 40 degrees or higher, muscle pain can be accompanied by cramps in the limbs, dizziness and nausea.
This is how chickenpox (pathogen) manifests itself in the diagnosis.
Symptoms and ways of the disease are considered. Let's move on to diagnosis and treatment.
Diagnostics
The onset of the disease is determined primarily by skin rashes.
For diagnosis, biochemical blood tests are performed to determine the herpes virus in the active phase. A urinalysis can also show the level of inflammation in the body.
This is how chickenpox is most often defined.
The causative agent and symptoms are interrelated.
Treatment
First of all, a sick child or adult needs to be isolated from society to eliminate the possibility of the spread of the virus. It is advisable not to go outside, in the sunlight, rashes become larger. The duration of treatment for chickenpox is 2-3 weeks from the onset of the disease.
Treatment for chickenpox is comprehensive, aimed at combating the signs of the disease and increasing the level of immunity.
To combat herpes, a number of antiviral drugs are prescribed. For adults in tablets or as injections, for children more often in the form of liquid syrups. One such drug is Acyclovir. Chicken pox (the causative agent of the infection - the herpes virus) will be much faster as a result of taking this drug.
At elevated temperatures, an adult and a child are prescribed antipyretic drugs. For children in the form of rectal suppositories and syrups, for adults in tablets.
Antihistamines may be prescribed to eliminate itching. It is very difficult for children to restrain themselves and not comb their skin.
In order to deal with a rash on the skin, children are precisely treated with a cotton swab moistened with green sticks. During the day, they are treated about 3-4 times. Rashes continue during the first 3-4 days after the first manifestations of the disease.
Both children and adults are not recommended to bathe, because when exposed to moisture, skin rashes do not heal in a timely manner. During the entire period of the disease, you can take a bath no more than 3-4 times using a string of chamomiles. The disinfecting, healing and drying properties of these herbs will positively affect the treatment process. The causative agent of chickenpox in children is the same as in adults - type 3 herpes virus infection.
Adults, in the absence of the ability to handle the manifestations of chickenpox with the help of greenery, are recommended to carry out procedures using alcohol or an iodine alcohol solution.
To increase the protective properties of the body, children and adults are prescribed a complex of vitamins, immunomodulating drugs, for example, Immunal.
How else is chickenpox treated? The causative agent of the infection is a virus, therefore, treatment should be approached comprehensively.
It is important to review the diet of a sick child during treatment. Limited in walks in the fresh air, physical activity, weakened by exposure to the virus, the child needs additional energy that he can receive from food. Mandatory inclusion in the menu of dairy products, fruits and vegetables, cereals based on cereal and bean products.
It is very important to maintain the level of water-alkaline balance in the body, the patient should drink plenty of water. To improve health and quickly remove toxins, you can drink a decoction of rose hips, which well stimulate the liver and kidneys.
Treatment for chickenpox is carried out at home most often. But if a child or an adult does not feel well, the temperature is kept above 38 degrees, the question of outpatient or inpatient treatment is being resolved. This is the causative agent of chickenpox.
When treating chickenpox, it is very important to properly handle the rashes on the face and surface of the skin of the body. With a complication, the formation of pus, inflammation, they will definitely leave scars. To prevent this, it is necessary to carry out processing using a weak solution of potassium permanganate, alcohol.
With a very severe course of the disease, a course of antibiotic treatment is prescribed. In such cases, treatment may be delayed and take more than 20 days. The older the patient, the greater the likelihood of complications. In addition, in connection with the age of the patient, the process of processing rashes is more complicated. The skin of fair-haired people, the genitals and face is almost impossible to treat with brilliant green. It leaves pigment that is undesirable for aesthetic reasons.
In life, each person suffers chickenpox once. In rare cases, a person can become infected twice. After all, the causative agent of chickenpox is the herpes virus, and every person has it in the body.
If there are several children in the family and one of them has chickenpox, it is advisable to isolate the second one so that the spread of infection does not occur. But if the children are under 5 years old, sometimes parents deliberately allow the second child to become infected with the virus so that there are no serious consequences for chickenpox infection in adulthood.
In fact, chickenpox belongs to the category of quite simply ongoing diseases. Temperature and acute manifestations of the disease exist in the first three days. Further, the patient feels well, and it is up to the healing of skin rashes.
Given that this is a viral infection, against the background of chickenpox, inflammatory processes in the upper respiratory tract can occur in parallel: bronchitis, tracheitis, pharyngitis or rhinitis.
Pregnancy and age up to a year
How does chickenpox manifest in pregnant women and infants?
The causative agent (characteristics listed above) can enter the body of a pregnant woman and a baby. What to do in this case? About it below.
Due to the sterile conditions of the hospital, the spread of chickenpox in the walls of the maternity ward practically does not occur. If a woman in labor was infected with chickenpox, the child is placed in an isolated box. The mother is also isolated from the rest of the patients. In addition to the diagnosis and treatment of chickenpox, a number of measures are taken to prevent the spread of the virus to other patients.
When pregnant women get chickenpox, they use antiviral therapy using medications that do not cross the placenta and do not affect the fetus. Antibiotic treatment is excluded in this case. The patient is placed in a hospital, treatment is carried out under supervision. In later pregnancy, there is a risk of contracting chickenpox during childbirth.
A complex disease can cause a miscarriage in the early stages of pregnancy and premature birth in the later stages.
The main prevention of chickenpox is the disinfection and sterilization of the premises where the patient was.
Home Prevention
How is chickenpox prevented? Pathogen, transmission paths we have considered. Therefore, after the end of the course of treatment for chickenpox, the maximum ventilation is carried out in the room where the patient was. Wash and iron sheets and towels. It is necessary to overturn the clothes of the patient.
Wet cleaning is carried out using chlorine-containing chemicals in the room where the patient was located and in common areas.
When the patient is in the house or apartment, it is necessary to ensure his complete isolation, visiting the patient in a medical mask.
Provide the patient for personal use dishes, towels, personal hygiene products.
It must be remembered that chickenpox is quite dangerous for an adult. The causative agent and pathways of the disease are known to all.
Public Prevention
In kindergartens and schools, constant sterilization and processing of premises using chlorine is mandatory.
When diagnosing chickenpox in children, they isolate patients from healthy children.
In kindergartens and educational institutions conduct mass vaccination against antiviral diseases.
Personal prevention of chickenpox
To prevent the disease, chicken pox (the causative agent of the disease is a virus), it is necessary to maintain immunity at the proper level. In order to increase the protective functions of the body, a full-fledged diet is used using foods high in fiber, vitamins, and trace elements.
- Take immunomodulatory drugs.
- Take vitamin complexes.
- In the risk zone, when visiting public places, use antiviral ointments, medical masks.
- Use antiviral vaccinations.
- When visiting patients with chickenpox, it is necessary to use antiviral agents, eliminate contact and use a medical mask.
Who is more susceptible to chickenpox?
- People with weakened immunity who have just had a disease and already have inflammatory diseases are more susceptible to the chickenpox virus.
- Children in a nursery and kindergartens. They have constant contact and easily transmit each other a viral infection by airborne droplets.
- Parents who have not previously had chickenpox are susceptible to infection in children with illness. A sick child must be looked after, and most often this role falls to parents. In this case, if one of the parents was already sick with chickenpox, he should be assigned the responsibility of caring for the sick child.
- Teachers, nannies and other workers of kindergartens and educational institutions. They are forced into contact with sick children and are primarily at risk of contracting a viral infection.
- Workers in pharmacies, trade and services. People in this profession are constantly in contact with the population and run the risk of contracting airborne droplets from virtually any viral infection.
- Doctors, nurses, medical staff. By virtue of the profession, they are not able to avoid becoming infected with a viral infection.
- Close relatives and the family of the patient with chickenpox. Without the possibility of isolation, being in the same living room with the patient, they constantly run the risk of airborne infection with the virus.
The consequences of chickenpox
Since the causative agent of chickenpox (microbiology confirms this) is a virus, the main consequences in a child are weakened immunity. Prolonged isolation, lack of fresh air, appetite and a virus infection worsen the child’s health. If chickenpox has passed with complications in an adult, this also reduces its level of immunity.
After strong combing, rashes from chicken pox leave small scars in the form of holes on the skin. They can remain for life, which is not very convenient aesthetically.
In rare cases, after chickenpox, the patient may experience difficulty in the work of the kidneys and liver.
Due to the prolonged use of alcohol-containing solutions, dry skin, various types of dermatitis may appear. To eliminate such unpleasant consequences, after the end of the course of treatment, it is necessary to lubricate the skin with oily creams, glycerin and other moisturizers.
Chicken pox is primarily considered a childhood illness. In adults, most often this is a secondary syndrome. Sometimes the virus is cumulative. If a person has already had chickenpox once, then in contact with infected patients, chickenpox can manifest itself in the form of skin diseases, for example, shingles. Adults are at risk of contracting chickenpox more often if they have low levels of immunity and are susceptible to disease.
With strong mass epidemics in public organizations, educational institutions can declare quarantine. Chickenpox belongs to the category of rapidly spreading viral infections, and more than half of the team can become infected during an epidemic. To quench the focus of infection, in such cases quarantine is declared. Because the presence in society of a large number of adults or children who have an incubation period when there is a possibility of the spread of infection is undesirable.
The total period from infection to the end of treatment for chickenpox ranges from 2 weeks to 1 month. Within 10-12 days after the absence of obvious manifestations of the disease, the person is still a spread of the infection. After treatment, doctors recommend another week not to take the child to school and kindergarten. It is dangerous for other children to spread the infection.
Sometimes chickenpox can only occur with itching and rash. The causative agent and symptoms of the disease are often interrelated.
In children with a high level of activity, the disease passes in a mild form, without a high body temperature, complications of skin rashes and the general condition of the body.
Which doctor should i contact with chickenpox?
Usually in children who go to kindergarten and school, a skin rash when infected with chickenpox is detected and diagnosed initially by the organization’s medical worker.
The second stage is a visit to the local pediatrician or a doctor’s call at home if the patient is unwell.
The local pediatrician diagnoses chickenpox and prescribes the course of treatment and the drugs used.
With outpatient treatment, constant monitoring of the patient by a pediatrician is necessary.
If the patient needs hospitalization, the district doctor writes out a referral to the hospital, where further treatment is carried out.
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- Alcohol.
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- "Acyclovir" and its analogues of foreign production.
- Zovirax, other antiviral drugs.
- Antibiotics Amoxiclav, penicillin group, tetracycline group.
- Vitamin complexes for children and adults.
- Antihistamines: “Clarotodine”, “Suprastin” or other Russian and foreign production.
It is important when infected with chickenpox to diagnose the disease in a timely manner, to comply with all necessary measures to isolate the patient, the doctor’s instructions. In no case do not interrupt treatment, do not go out into the street and into the community ahead of schedule. In case of severe smallpox on the face after chickenpox, treat scars with Ointment “Contratubex” for 1 month. A month after the end of treatment, as a diagnosis of the consequences, it is necessary to pass biochemical blood and urine tests.
If necessary, you need to make an immunogram, based on the results of the diagnosis, it will be clear how negative the impact of the disease on the human body was.
In the article, we examined for the disease chickenpox, the pathogen, symptoms and treatment methods for this disease.