Prophylaxis
Children with chickenpox should be isolated during a hospital stay. 5 days after the appearance of the last fresh blisters of skin, chickenpox is no longer contagious. Children can go back to community facilities such as kindergarten or school without any risk of infection.
There is an effective vaccination against the varicella zoster virus, which causes chickenpox and zoster.Since 2004, the Permanent Vaccination Commission (STIKO) of the Robert Koch Institute has recommended vaccination against the virus in children aged 9-17 years who have not yet gone through chickenpox. The protection against the disease of chickenpox offered by the vaccination is almost 100% in children before the age of 14; in older adolescents and adults this rate is about 90%. This vaccination is a so-called active immunization with a live vaccine: during the vaccine production process, the effect of the virus is weakened and its ability to reproduce is eliminated.
The contact of the body with the attenuated virus form leads to an immune response with antibody formation. The vaccinated persons are immune, i.e. if they come into contact with the virus again, the disease does not occur. In addition, live vaccination is recommended for persons who are not vaccinated but who are at risk of infection, e.g. medical personnel or patients with immune deficiencies of all kinds or for persons who could transmit the virus to persons at risk, such as siblings of immunocompromised children or medical personnel.
Likewise, women who wish to have children should be vaccinated in order to avert the danger to the baby that arises from a varicella infection during pregnancy. A so-called passive immunization is possible. It is useful for children whose mothers have chickenpox 7 days before to 2 days after birth or within 48 hours for pregnant women who have been exposed to the virus.
