Chickenpox or chicken pox, also known as varicella, is a highly contagious illness caused by primary infection with varicella zoster virus (VZV). It usually starts with vesicular skin rash appearing in two or three waves, mainly on the body and head rather than the hands and becoming itchy raw pockmarks, small open sores which heal without scarring for the most part.
Chicken pox is spread easily through coughs or sneezes of ill individuals, or th...
more
Chickenpox or chicken pox, also known as varicella, is a highly contagious illness caused by primary infection with varicella zoster virus (VZV). It usually starts with vesicular skin rash appearing in two or three waves, mainly on the body and head rather than the hands and becoming itchy raw pockmarks, small open sores which heal without scarring for the most part.
Chicken pox is spread easily through coughs or sneezes of ill individuals, or through direct contact with secretions from the rash. Following primary infection there is usually lifelong protective immunity from further episodes of chickenpox.
Chickenpox is rarely fatal, although it is generally more severe in adult males than in adult females or children. Pregnant women and those with a suppressed immune system are at highest risk of serious complications. The most common late complication of chicken pox is shingles, caused by reactivation of the varicella zoster virus decades after the initial episode of chickenpox....
less
