How can you get chickenpox?

Chickenpox is the popular name for chickenpox, which is a type 3 herpes virus, varicella-zoster. It belongs to the category of "volatile" viruses, transmitted by airborne droplets through the mucous membranes of the upper respiratory tract or when fluid from a burst blister gets on the skin. The virus has 100% susceptibility, affects the epithelium of the skin, then penetrates the blood, causing its redness, the formation of papules with serous fluid, and exfoliation of the epidermis. Its reproduction causes a response from the body in the form of fever, itching, and other symptoms.

Risk of contracting chickenpox

Many consider this infection to be a purely childhood disease, but can an adult become infected with chickenpox? Every person, both a child and an adult, who has not yet had it, is at risk of becoming infected with chickenpox. Those who have had the disease develop immunity, and it is believed that they are not at risk of re-infection. The carriers of the infection are those who become ill a day before the appearance of visual evidence and five days after the rash. This means that people who spread the virus do not even suspect it.

• Where can you get chickenpox?

Where can you get chickenpox? The answer to this question is everywhere. The virus can remain in the air for a long time in an active state and spread several hundred meters from the source of infection. If a person is alone in an elevator or taxi, or is on the landing, this is not a guarantee of safety in this sense. A pregnant woman can transmit the virus through the placenta to the fetus.

• How do children get chickenpox?

How do children get chickenpox? Given the ease of transmission of the virus, children have an even greater chance of catching it, since they are constantly in crowded places: kindergartens, schools, clubs, studios. Therefore, to the question of whether it is possible to get infected on the street, one can confidently answer: "Yes!" Up to what age can you get chickenpox? Children under 12 years of age are most often infected, but this infection has no age limit. "Early" infection has its advantage, since at this age the disease is easiest. Unlike our country, where parents try to isolate their child from the sick, and quarantines are declared in kindergartens, many civilized countries do not do this, preferring that their children get sick in a timely manner.

• How many days does it take to get chickenpox?

How many days does it take to get chickenpox? The incubation period of the disease lasts from one to three weeks. Having “caught” the virus, we may not even know about it for such a long period. You can find out if you have chickenpox only when your body is covered with red spots, then after a few hours blisters with clear liquid inside “grow”. The next day they wrinkle and settle, forming crusts, and after about a week they dry up and fall off. After the first signs of infection appear, new ones appear for another 2-5 days.

• Can you get chickenpox a second time?

Is it possible to get chickenpox a second time? The fact is that the herpes virus, which is chickenpox, remains in the human body forever, providing permanent immunity. It would seem that then the question can be answered with confidence in the affirmative. But another diagnosis - shingles is provoked by the same virus, you can get it several times, it even has a chronic form. It is called the second chickenpox, from it you can get not only shingles, but also chickenpox. In addition, in medical practice there have been rare cases of re-infection with chickenpox, which were in a milder form than the first time. This is associated with a weakening of the immune system, most often caused by other serious pathologies, taking antibiotics.

• Is it possible to get chickenpox from third parties?

Is it possible to get chickenpox from third parties? This question often worries parents of children. They are afraid that the child may catch the virus, for example, from a pediatrician who, before examining their child, was at a reception with a patient with chickenpox or from a massage therapist through whose hands children passed during the incubation period of the disease. Experts reassure that the disease occurs directly from the sick to the healthy, so there is no need to worry, chickenpox is not transmitted from third parties.

• Can you get chickenpox from clothes?

Is it possible to get chickenpox from things? The only source of the virus is the patient himself. The claim that someone became infected from contact with the patient's thing is a myth. A person simply cannot trace the trajectory of a drop of saliva with a microscopic virus, so he comes up with more realistic, in his opinion, explanations.

• Can you get infected after getting the chickenpox vaccine?

In childhood, the disease usually proceeds mildly, but there are exceptions. Serious consequences are possible: pneumonia, brain damage and even death. To prevent such complications, a vaccine using a live weakened strain of herpes was invented in Japan in 1974. The positive effect of its use was assessed in the world, it has been introduced in more than 90 countries, including Ukraine. In our country, the vaccination is not included in the list of mandatory ones, but those who wish can get vaccinated. Is it possible to get infected after the chickenpox vaccination? Such cases have been recorded, but the disease proceeds in a much milder form, without multiple rashes, high temperature, recovery occurs faster.

How to know if you have chickenpox, symptoms

Even before the rash appears, the infected person feels general malaise, discomfort, loss of appetite, fever, headache, and a high temperature. These symptoms express the body's response to the virus that has entered it. The rash first on the body (stomach, back), then on the head (face, scalp) confirms fears that the person has become infected with chickenpox.

How to avoid getting chickenpox?

How to avoid getting chickenpox? Obviously, vaccination gives the best chance of not catching the disease. You can try to avoid contact with sick people, but there is no guarantee that you will not meet people who do not have obvious signs of the virus, but are its carriers. If there is a person with chickenpox in the house, what should you do to avoid getting infected? It is necessary to ventilate the home, resort to quartz treatment of the room. At too high or low air temperatures, the virus is unstable, but you cannot create such a microclimate in a living space. Good immunity is the most reliable protection against the disease, and a healthy lifestyle, proper nutrition, exercise, and hardening will help with this.