Chickenpox Basics
by JustinChickenpox is a virus, called the herpes zoster. It has been found that 9 out of every 10 people in the world will contract the virus at one point in their lives. In the Western world, this happens mainly during childhood, where the effects of the virus are much less severe. However, in other parts of the world, it is usually adults that become infected. There is a vaccine available, but not every chooses to make use of it.
The seriousness of the disease varies greatly from person to person. In fact, if you contract chickenpox from another person, it’s most likely that your case will be a little bit more severe than theirs. However, the most serious cases occur in adults, and are due to the fact that many adults develop pneumonia with their herpes zoster. A small percentage of those do develop pneumonia end up in the hospital. Generally, the only complications children develop come from bacteria infections from picking at the skin blisters.
If your child has had the chickenpox vaccine or has had even the mildest case of the infection, they are now essentially immune. The virus sometimes breaks through the built up antibodies and causes a very small “breakout infection,” but these infections are generally very mild. If this happens to an adult, however, the herpes zoster virus can cause the very painful disease shingles.
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