Chickenpox is one of the most common childhood diseases and is extremely contagious. Since 2004, they can be prevented with vaccination. The most typical symptom that indicates chickenpox disease is a red, very itchy rash. This can be treated well with cooling compresses and lotions that relieve itching. While the disease usually takes a harmless course in children, it is often accompanied by complications in adults. Chickenpox is particularly dangerous during pregnancy.
Contagious chickenpox
Chickenpox (varicella) is an extremely contagious viral disease transmitted by droplet and smear infections. On the one hand, one can consequently become infected with the viruses through direct contact with the highly contagious fluid in the skin vesicles. On the other hand, infection is also possible when coughing, sneezing or talking, as the varicella zoster viruses can travel several meters in the air. In the air, however, the viruses lose their infectious potential after about ten minutes, which is why transmission via bedding or toys is not to be feared. Chickenpox primarily affects children of kindergarten age – which is why chickenpox, like measles or rubella, is considered a typical childhood disease. By the age of 14, about 90 percent of all children have experienced chickenpox. The typical chickenpox season is winter and spring. Those who have once contracted chickenpox are usually immune to the disease for the rest of their lives. In exceptional cases, however, chickenpox can occur a second time: This is usually the case if the first outbreak of the disease was very mild or occurred early in childhood.
Chickenpox: symptoms
The characteristic symptom of chickenpox is a red, very itchy rash. Usually, the red spots form in several episodes all over the body. Over time, small blisters filled with a clear, highly contagious fluid develop in the center of the spots. After some time, the blisters burst and the spots crust over. The majority of blisters form on the abdomen and back and on the face. Red spots also appear on the legs and arms, but usually much less than on the trunk. In rare cases, the mucous membranes of the mouth and nose as well as the genitals and anus may also be affected. In some cases, fever, headache, pain in the limbs and a general feeling of tiredness occur in addition to the skin rash. In most cases, these symptoms are already noticeable before the rash breaks out. It is important, especially with children, to make sure that they do not scratch the chickenpox. This is because scratching can inflame the blisters and lead to serious skin infections, which can even lead to blood poisoning (sepsis). For this reason, smaller children should have their fingernails cut as short as possible. In particularly bad cases, thin cotton gloves can provide relief.
Chickenpox: Duration and course
The incubation period for chickenpox is usually between 14 and 17 days – but in some cases it can be a few days shorter or longer. There is a risk of infection not only from the onset of the disease, but already about two days before. Once chickenpox has broken out, it usually takes between five and ten days until the last vesicles have crusted over and the disease is therefore no longer contagious. Before chickenpox has healed, people with the disease should not come into contact with healthy people who have not yet had chickenpox. Chickenpox usually takes a harmless course, but in isolated cases complications can occur – this is particularly the case in children under one year of age and in adults over 16 years of age: In rare cases, meningitis or pneumonia can be triggered. Sporadically, chickenpox can also cause deaths, in which case it usually affects people with immunodeficiencies or pregnant women.
Chickenpox in pregnancy
Chickenpox occurs relatively rarely during pregnancy because only about three in 100 pregnant women do not have antibodies to the disease. For these three percent, however, chickenpox is a dangerous disease because it is often associated with complications in pregnant women.Pregnant women who have had contact with someone who has chickenpox should therefore be injected with antibodies against the virus (immunoprophylaxis). If a woman contracts chickenpox during pregnancy, the pathogens can be transmitted to the unborn child via the placenta – but this only happens in about 25 percent of cases. The risk that the child will then actually be harmed by the virus is even lower – it is between one and two percent, depending on the time of transmission. Infection between the 8th and 20th week of pregnancy is particularly dangerous, as the child’s limbs and organs are developing during this time and deformities can occur as a result of chickenpox. Among other things, skin defects, damage to the nervous system, eye diseases, and malformation of the skeletal system can occur. In the worst case, the infection can result in miscarriage.
Chickenpox in babies
It is especially critical for newborns if the mother becomes ill with chickenpox shortly before or after birth. The child then no longer receives antibodies transferred from the mother and thus does not have sufficient immune protection in the event of infection. Since the newborn’s immune system cannot yet produce its own antibodies, chickenpox often takes a severe course in such cases. To prevent this, the newborn is usually injected with antibodies against the varicella-zoster viruses if the mother becomes ill (immunoprophylaxis).
Chickenpox in adults
Initial infection with chickenpox in adults is extremely rare. If it occurs, the disease usually takes a more severe course than in children. Thus, adults usually have significantly more itchy patches, which can reappear repeatedly over a period of up to four weeks. Often the rash is accompanied by fever, which can rise to over 40 degrees. Complications such as inflammation of the liver, pneumonia, meningitis, and gastrointestinal symptoms are also much more common in adults – especially adults with a weakened immune system – than in children.
