Chickenpox! By Kristopher Just.

What is the disease? Chickenpox is a virus called caused by varicella zoster. When you’re infected by the disease your body will develop a rash of spots/lesions that cover the whole body. These spots are extremely itchy and can cause irritation if scratched continuously.

What is the cause of the disease? Chickenpox is an infectious disease, cause by the varicella zoster virus. It is transmitted from person to person by droplet infection through the respiratory tract. Once the virus enters the body it rests and reproduces in the lymph nodes of the body for about 3 to 4 days before it travels to the blood to infect the spleen and liver. It then finally rests in the nerve roots near the spinal cord until it is activated.

What type of disease is it? Chickenpox falls under the virus category, (varicella zoster virus) which also is the cause of the shingles (herpes zoster).

Who commonly suffers from the disease? Chickenpox effects people that haven't been infected by the virus before. But others that can be effected from chickenpox are infants and younger children (aged 5-9 account for half of the diseases number), people that spend a lot of time with children, (teachers, childcare workers etc) and also doctors may be at risk of the disease due to people coming into their business for diagnosis.

What are the signs and symptoms of this disease? Chickenpox presents with a characteristic rash. The rash first appears over the face, scalp or stomach. The rash firstly consists of red / purple colored raised lesions, which evolve into lesions filled with clear fluid. These are called vesicular lesions. The fluid in these lesions then becomes hazy giving the rash a characteristic blistered appearance. The rash is itchy and a young infant may get irritated due to the constant itch. Other common symptoms include fever, nausea and anorexia, body ache, vomiting, listlessness, etc.

What is the treatment for the disease? There are quite a few over the counter remedies that can help sooth the itchiness and/or irritation of the lesions, the main 2 are, prescription antihistamines which are used to control severe itching and calamine lotion, which when applied to the blisters helps dry them out and soothe the skin. Also, Children should never be given aspirin or medications containing aspirin for chicken pox because of the risk of Reye's syndrome.

Can it be cured? There is currently not a cure for chickenpox, but there are ways that you can reduce or dramatically lower your chances of getting it or even prevent it. The 2 main options are lotions and creams that the infected can apply to the lesions to decrease the itchiness and irritation. There is also a vaccine containing a live attenuated strain of varicella. This strain is capable of stimulating the body's immune system to give immunity against the varicella virus without causing the disease. The vaccine is administered subcutaneously and is effective in providing protection for over 90% of vaccines. The vaccine is usually well tolerated and side effects are generally mild. These include pain, mild rash and a fever. Thus meaning chickenpox is now preventable through vaccination but not curable.

Impact on society There are a few impacts on society from chickenpox. But the main are: Before vaccination for varicella became widespread in the United States, this disease affected approximately 4 million children per year, caused as many as 100 deaths in children annually, and was responsible for an estimated $400 million in medical costs and lost wages each year. A person with the virus could be contagious without any symptoms, which would lead to spread of the virus. A pregnant mother could pass virus onto her growing fetus or newborn child, but there is only a 1-2% chance of any fatal infect with birth defects.

Have the numbers of the virus increased or decreased in recent years? Ever since vaccination has been available, (since 1995), the numbers of people infected with the virus have declined dramatically.

Is the disease more common in any particular part of the world? Chickenpox is more common in developing countries due to the fact that their immune system isn’t as strong as people who live in 1 st or 2 nd world countries, plus most of the developing countries don’t have enough money to afford that vaccinations which leads to them getting infected.

Extra Information The first vaccine was created in The varicella (chickenpox) vaccine is between 85% and 90% effective in preventing all varicella infections, but 100% effective in preventing moderate and severe chicken pox. Kids aged 5-9 account for 50% of the numbers in chickenpox. The word chickenpox comes from the Old English word "gican" meaning "to itch" or from the Old French word "chiche-pois" for chickpea, a description of the size of the lesion.

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