What Causes CHICKENPOX in Children?

What causes chickenpox in children and how to identify it?

Chickenpox is a contagious viral disease that mostly affects children. It appears on the skin as rash-like itchy red spots that can develop into blisters. The main parts of the body that get affected are the face, scalp, chest, belly, back, arms and legs. It generally starts in one location and cyclically spreads to other parts over the course of 1-2 weeks time.

Chickenpox is uncommon now since children are routinely immunised against it these days. Yet outbreaks keep occurring from time to time, for the cases who haven't been vaccinated.

What is the cause of chickenpox?

•  chickenpox is caused by the varicella-zoster virus (VZV) and spreads through direct contamination.
•  if the blister breaks open and the virus infects the surface of objects, it gets transferred when one touches the object and then touches any body part, thereby spreading through contact.
•  it also spreads through aerial contamination when a person infected by it coughs or sneezes, which allows the virus to extend to various surfaces.
•  when an unimmunised child with a weak immune system comes into contact with an adult suffering from a shingles (a type of a viral infection in adults caused by the same chicken pox virus) rash, the child is susceptible to contracting the chickenpox virus.

Now let's turn our attention to the symptoms of this disease in children.

The symptoms of chickenpox do not manifest themselves till 2-3 weeks after contamination. The exact time required for the signs to show varies from person to person and is known as the 'incubation period'.

Following are the symptoms of chickenpox in children:

•  exhaustion and lethargy
•  swollen glands.
•  high fever accompanied by a headache and body ache
•  loss of appetite
•  signs of dehydration
•  the eruption of red rashes and fluid-filled blisters on the skin, which may become painful
•  chest pain and breathing difficulty, although it is less common

The symptoms of chickenpox tend to be milder in children than in adults and hence, identifying the signs is harder and may take longer.

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