Children's disease chickenpox treatment. How does chickenpox begin in children - symptoms and treatment methods. How to act with chickenpox in a child and what to do with a rash

Every Russian citizen, young and old, knows: a child, from head to toe, "dotted" with green peas on the skin, is a "sufferer" with chickenpox. It's funny that nowhere else in the world greenery is used for medical purposes. Why, then, do we so diligently “paint” our “weathered” children with it? And is there any modern alternative to brilliant green in the treatment of chickenpox in children?

The main and most painful symptom of chickenpox in children is a red, constantly itchy rash that is somewhat reminiscent of the effects of insect bites.

Where do you get windmill?

Chickenpox (popularly known simply as “chickenpox”) is a viral infection caused by a specific type 3 herpes virus. It is noteworthy that this virus is not simple, but with a "zest" - it belongs to the category of so-called "volatile viruses" with a universal 100% susceptibility.

That is, it is transmitted from a sick person to a healthy person by airborne droplets, but at the same time it can be in a “suspended” state in the air for a long time and thus spread over fairly long distances - up to several hundred meters in a radius from the “source”.

In other words, if your child has chickenpox, it is not at all necessary that his desk mate at school or kindergarten infected him. The virus could well "fly" to him from a neighboring house. Thus, it is almost impossible to live up to gray hair and never meet with chickenpox and not get sick with it.

Symptoms of chickenpox in children

The main symptoms of chickenpox in children are, which is somewhat reminiscent of the consequences. The rash often starts on the face, chest, and back, but then it can spread throughout the body, and even end up in the mouth.

The rash gives way to fluid-filled blisters that eventually rupture into tiny pockmarks. Neither vesicles, nor already open pock-pocket ulcers can be combed (even in obedience to unbearable itching), otherwise the disease runs the risk of dragging on and giving serious complications. The number of smallpox can vary greatly - from 10-20 all over the body, up to several thousand. But usually a child has about 200-300 "sores" for the entire period of illness.

The main and most eloquent symptom of chickenpox in children is a red, itchy rash.

Other symptoms of chickenpox in children may begin with the onset of a rash, and may occur as early as 7-8 days of illness:

• headache;
• fever and fever;
• loss of appetite;
• causeless irritability and tearfulness.

About chickenpox and greenery: why do mothers “paint” their children?

Treatment of vesicles of the rash that occurs with chickenpox with a solution of brilliant green does not, contrary to popular belief, have any medicinal effect. So - it is only of secondary importance in the treatment of chickenpox in children. Zelenka does not relieve itching, and in no way contributes to the disappearance of the rash. And doctors advise mothers and fathers to smear children with brilliant green not at all in order to treat them.

The point is this. In the course of numerous studies, doctors have found that a person with chickenpox (including a child of any age) ceases to be contagious 5 days after new rashes cease to appear on his body.

And as long as all the new bubbles pour out on the skin - the disease is still dangerous for others. And how do you know which of the "sores" of the rash is yesterday's and the day before yesterday, and which jumped up this morning? That's why pimples are smeared with brilliant green - they are simply marked! Those that are not painted are those of today.

In the fight against chicken pox, brilliant green is effective in much the same way as colored felt-tip pens - in this case, it does not act as a medicine, but as an excellent marker that allows you to determine in 5 seconds whether there are new, fresh bubbles on the skin of a child (or adult) - rashes.

As soon as there is nothing to smear - that is, new fresh pockmarks stop appearing - we can assume that the disease is safely receding.

Chickenpox in children: how to do without greenery?

Zelenka, as you know, nowhere in the world is used as actively as in domestic pediatrics. Moreover, many Western and European doctors do not even suspect the existence of such a remarkable medicine. How do they determine at what stage the chickenpox is in a child?

Quite simply: as long as there are rash bubbles on the baby’s skin that are not covered with a dark crust, the disease is still active. As soon as all the foci of the rash are covered with a dry crust (in the vast majority of cases in children this occurs on the 7-8th day from the moment the first symptom of chickenpox appears), and a new, fresh rash (without crusts) is not observed, we can already say that the disease passed into a phase of decline and it does not threaten anyone around.

How to treat chickenpox in children

First, it makes sense to warn about how not to treat chickenpox in children. Despite the fact that many parents sin with an excessive and rather risky love for antibiotics, it will be useful for them to remind them again: antimicrobial (aka antibacterial) agents are completely useless in the fight against any viruses! And since chickenpox in children is an exclusively viral infection, antibiotics can not even be remembered.

There are special drugs (the so-called acyclovir-based group of antiherpetic drugs) that help defeat the herpes group virus that causes chickenpox.

However, in young children, such drugs are used extremely rarely.
Firstly, because these drugs themselves are quite “complex”, with possible side effects. Yes, and there is usually no special need for their use - if the disease develops without complications, according to its standard scenario, then small children (aged from about 1 year to 6-7 years) quite easily and adequately tolerate chickenpox on their own, without drug therapy.

Whereas adults, teenagers, pregnant women and very tiny babies, on the contrary, suffer from chickenpox quite significantly. In the case of these risk groups, the use of drug therapy (i.e. antiherpetic drugs) is justified and often essential. However, only a doctor has the right to prescribe medicines!

For the most part, the treatment of chickenpox in children aged 1-7 years in the vast majority of cases comes down to monitoring the development and extinction of the skin rash. With the help of green paint (if you like it so much) or any other markers (at least circle with a ballpoint pen!) You need to mark existing pockmarks and monitor the appearance of new ones.

As soon as the rash stops appearing, you can start a five-day countdown. After 5 days, the child will no longer pose a risk of infection.

After this period, you can safely take the child for a walk (fresh air and some physical activity will only contribute to his recovery), but it is still too early for him to go to a nursery, kindergarten or school (as well as to any other "crowded" place).

He himself will not be able to infect anyone, but he can easily “catch” some kind of infection from other people - the fact is that chickenpox, alas, significantly reduces immunity for a while. In order for the child to fully recover, he needs to be in relative isolation for about 2-3 more weeks after the illness.

So, the strategy for treating chickenpox in children is as follows:

• 1 Watch for the appearance of new pockmarks.
• 2 Take measures to eliminate itching.
• 4 Feed moderately, drink heavily.

You can monitor the appearance of smallpox with the help of markers (green paint, felt-tip pens, or simply by eye). How to relieve itching - we will tell in detail a little lower. And as antipyretics in the treatment of chickenpox in children, only two drugs are usually used: paracetamol or ibuprofen. Both are equally effective in lowering body temperature.

How to reduce itching and burning on the skin in children with chickenpox

There are several specific steps you can take to help relieve the itching and urge to scratch your skin with chicken rash. Namely:

• 1 Create a cool indoor climate! (The more the baby sweats - the worse the rashes and the more itching).
• 2 At night, put on children's cotton mittens on the child so that he does not itch during sleep.
• 3 Give your baby a cool bath. Despite the temperature and severe itching, bathing a child with chickenpox is not only possible, but necessary. Partly just because cool water significantly reduces itching. An important nuance: the skin after bathing should not be wiped, but only blotted with a towel.
• 4 To relieve itching, you can also add a little baking soda to the water when bathing. Moreover, you can bathe your baby in a cool bath with the addition of soda several times a day - literally every 3-4 hours.
• 5 In addition, topical antihistamines (all kinds of ointments and gels) help relieve itching. However, such drugs must be used very carefully! Apply ointment or gel should be in a small amount and only on the pockmark itself. Otherwise (especially if there are a lot of bubbles of the rash and they cover most of the body), when using antihistamine ointments, it can “arrange” the child with a real overdose of the drug. Since it is through the affected areas of the skin that the ointment is most quickly absorbed into the blood.

Possible complications after chickenpox in children

Aesthetic skin problems. After smallpox, there may be blisters on the skin, small pits, as after acne, etc., which later can not always be eliminated.

. Most often this happens with children whose immunity is significantly weakened.

Damage to the brain (the so-called "varicella encephalitis"). A rare but possible phenomenon against the background of chickenpox, in which some areas of the brain are temporarily “attacked”. Which, accordingly, causes a disorder of behavior and facial expressions, tremor and impaired coordination. However, with proper therapy, it is successfully treated.

Reye's syndrome ("acute hepatic encephalopathy"). This is a very rare, but at the same time very serious disease, which, according to some medical studies, occurs as a result of the use of drugs based on acetylsalicylic acid (for example, aspirin) in the treatment of chickenpox. Mortality in Reye's syndrome against the background of chickenpox in children 3-12 years old is 20-25%.

The combination of chickenpox and aspirin is deadly! If you yourself or your children have chickenpox - aspirin should be hidden in the farthest corner ...

It should be remembered that most of the complications of chickenpox (as with other viral infections) occur against the background of dehydration. Give your child plenty of water - and the risk of any complications will be significantly reduced.

Prevention of chickenpox in children

Vaccination can give you 100% protection against the chickenpox virus. Alas, it is not so cheap that it is freely carried out in our country. For comparison: in the United States and some European countries, since the mid-1990s, the chickenpox vaccine has been included in the national vaccination plan and is carried out everywhere.

At the same time, a baby with a strong immune system will certainly suffer chickenpox more easily and faster than his peers with a weakened immune system. In addition, with a weakened immune system against the background of chickenpox, complications of the disease can sometimes develop in children. All this suggests that strong stable immunity is also rightly considered part of the prevention against many diseases, including against chickenpox.

Get sick with chickenpox, so as not to get sick with it ever!

Many modern young parents are of the opinion that the child should be allowed to have chickenpox at the safest - kindergarten - age (when the disease proceeds most easily and quickly), so that in the future their child will never be afraid of contracting chickenpox.

Often they deliberately bring their baby "on a visit" to the house, where at that time someone is already more than chickenpox - so that the contact "takes place" and their baby is safely ill. Oddly enough, but many pediatricians today consider such parental behavior to be very reasonable, and quarantines for chickenpox in kindergartens, on the contrary, are a strange and illogical event. Indeed, at the age of 3-7 years, chickenpox occurs in the easiest way! And getting sick with chickenpox ever again - there is practically no chance. So the logic of the parents is quite understandable and understandable.

However! Despite the fact that in most cases chickenpox in children is mild, without visible consequences, sometimes complications do occur. That is why it is still more reasonable and safer to “vaccinate” a child with protection against chickenpox using a vaccine (that is, using a weakened virus), and not through the disease itself (the ending of which in some cases can be predictable).

So if you come to a choice: what kind of “meeting” with the virus to organize for your baby - with a weakened one in the form of a vaccine, or with a “wild” one in the form of a disease, then there is every reason to believe that it would be good to lean towards the first option ...

Everyone strives to protect their baby from diseases by all means. But there is an ailment that does not cause much concern for parents. Moreover, some mothers even try to deliberately infect the child - if the neighbor's baby is sick, they bring their own to play with him. We are talking about the well-known chicken pox, or chickenpox.

What is chickenpox

Chickenpox is classified as an acute viral infection of children, transmitted by airborne droplets. The disease is caused by the Varicella-Zoster virus. It is also called the herpes virus type 3. This pathogen is unique in that the susceptibility of the human body to it is one hundred percent. Another feature is its ability to accumulate in the nerve nodes (ganglia) and remain viable for a long time. For the first time entering the body of a child, the pathogen causes the development of chicken pox, after which lifelong immunity is noted.

A person who had chickenpox as a child receives lifelong immunity to this infection.

An adult who had chickenpox in childhood, when the virus remaining in the body is activated, can get sick with herpes zoster (shingles), which manifests itself with completely different symptoms.

Most often, children under the age of seven get sick with chickenpox. The disease usually proceeds easily and without complications from a year to 12 years. In older adolescents and adults, the infection is much more severe. That is why mothers want their child to get chickenpox at an early age. But adults who did not have chickenpox in childhood should do their best not to get infected with the virus. Pregnant women should be especially careful - intrauterine infection of the fetus can lead to serious deviations in the development of the unborn baby.

In the first months of life (up to six months), babies rarely get sick, as they receive mother's immunity. If an infant (from 6 to 12 months of age) is infected with the virus, the disease is usually severe and may be complicated by a bacterial infection.

How the disease develops

You can get chickenpox from a sick person who releases the virus into the environment from the end of the incubation period (about a day before the onset of rashes) until the last peeled off crust (usually the 5th day from the formation of the last element of the rash).

The pathogen is not able to exist outside the human body for longer than 10 minutes. It is very unstable: it quickly dies when heated, irradiated with ultraviolet radiation, and exposed to disinfectants.

Chickenpox is caused by the Varicella-Zoster virus, which has a unique property - a person has an absolute susceptibility to it.

The virus enters the human body through the mucous membranes of the respiratory tract and is fixed in the epithelial cells of the mucous layer. After that, it penetrates into the bloodstream and penetrates into the cells of the skin, causing a characteristic inflammatory process - local expansion of the capillaries (an area of ​​hyperemia appears - a spot), the formation of serous edema (papules) and limited exfoliation of a section of the epidermal layer (formation of a vesicle - vesicles).

The increased multiplication of the virus and the reactive response of the body lead to the appearance of a high temperature in a sick child and general symptoms of the infectious process.

The virus causes skin manifestations in the form of a rash and general intoxication.

The pathogen is transmitted from a sick person to a healthy person with droplets of saliva and sputum when coughing, sneezing, talking. Children become infected from each other, being in the same room, talking to each other, playing, exchanging toys. Therefore, outbreaks of chickenpox are most often observed in organized groups - kindergartens, sanatoriums, camps, schools. They get sick more often in the autumn-winter period, since the virus is more afraid of sunlight than freezing.

Video: what is chickenpox and why is it dangerous

Forms of infection

Chickenpox can occur in different forms:

• Mild, in which the general condition of the sick child is not greatly disturbed, the temperature rises to low numbers or remains within the normal range. There are few rashes, they can be in the form of single elements; the duration of the acute period (rashes) does not exceed 2-4 days.
• Moderate, which is characterized by intoxication, fever up to 38–39 ° C, profuse rash with itching. The period of skin manifestations lasts an average of 5-7 days.
• Severe (generalized), in which there are abundant rashes on the skin and mucous layer of internal organs, genitals, mouth, eyes, accompanied by severe itching. The temperature rises to high numbers, there are phenomena of severe intoxication - sleep disturbance, weakness, loss of appetite, there may be vomiting and stool disorder. The acute period lasts from 8 to 10 days.

The severe form of chickenpox is manifested by rashes not only on the skin, but also on the mucous membranes of the internal organs.

In children, the disease usually occurs in a mild or moderate form.

Rarely observed atypical forms of infection:

• bullous - characterized by the appearance of huge blisters on the skin, which are filled with a cloudy yellowish liquid, the tops of these formations are flabby, and when they break, long-term non-healing ulcers are found at their bottom;
• hemorrhagic - the contents of the vesicles are not serous (inflammatory) fluid, but blood, the crusts formed in place of the vesicles are dark red, after they fall off, deep scars remain;
• gangrenous - characterized by a progressive lesion of the deep layers of the skin with their gradual death (necrosis), the process of necrosis begins a few days after the appearance of the first rashes, its characteristic feature is the appearance of thin dark purple rims around the skin vesicles.

Such clinical variants are possible in severely weakened children with pathologies of the immune system, for example, in cancer patients receiving long-term treatment with cytostatics or steroid drugs.

Fortunately, atypical forms are very rare, usually chickenpox in children is manifested only by a rash in the form of small vesicles and fever.

Main symptoms

Chickenpox in its development has several periods:

• incubation;
• premonitory;
• the period of rashes (he is feverish);
• crusting (healing).

Incubation lasts from 11 days to 3 weeks, most often 2 weeks. The period of the prodrome in children, as a rule, is absent. It occurs 1-2 days before the first rash and can be manifested by headache, body aches, and a slight fever. Children, especially small ones, cannot describe their subjective feelings, so the mother needs to pay attention to the baby's behavior: he becomes capricious, tearful, sleeps poorly and may refuse to eat. But most often the disease begins with the appearance of a rash.

rashes

The onset of the rash is usually accompanied by a sharp rise in temperature. New elements of the rash appear in jerks, and therefore the fever often has a wave-like character. The first spot, which then turned into a characteristic bubble, can appear on any part of the body - on the face, torso, arms, legs, genitals, in the scalp. After a certain time (from 24 to 48 hours), new vesicles are formed.

On the body of a child, elements of a rash of different stages of development can be simultaneously detected.

Rashes appear in "portions" and this explains the characteristic picture of a chickenpox rash - fresh spots and vesicles are next to those already healing. Vesicles can have a different shape, often round, sometimes oblong, filled with a clear liquid, their size can be from 2 to 10 mm in diameter.

Vesicles in chickenpox can be of different sizes and shapes.

After one or two days, the bubble begins to dry out. Its contents become cloudy, a brownish crust slowly forms, which disappears after about a week, while usually leaving no traces behind. Small bubbles can dry up during the day, a crust quickly forms on top, which easily falls off.

A rash with chickenpox does not affect the germ layer of the epidermis, so healing occurs without a trace, but if the crusts are torn off on their own or the vesicles are combed, then pockmarks remain in their place - atrophic scars. Small scars disappear within about a year, in some cases they remain visible for several years.

The last portion of the rashes (usually only 3-4 waves are observed) may be characterized by an incomplete development cycle of the elements of the rash, that is, spots form without the formation of bubbles, and then they simply disappear.

The total number of elements of the rash can vary from a dozen to several hundred, depending on the severity of the infection. Rashes are accompanied by excruciating itching, so it is very important to relieve this symptom in order to prevent the child from scratching the bubbles and introducing a bacterial infection.

Together with vesicles on the skin, a rash appears on the mucous membranes, the so-called enanthema. Usually there are few elements on the mucous membranes - from 1 to 5. The bubbles quickly burst, get wet and turn into small erosions with a yellowish-gray coating and a red rim. Within 1-2 days of erosion heal.

Along with a rash on the skin with chickenpox, there may be rashes on the mucous membranes

General manifestations

Common manifestations of chicken pox are fever and deterioration of well-being. The temperature most often rises to 37.5-38.5 o C, less often to 39-40 o C. The child is lethargic, does not eat well, he may experience short-term diarrhea and single vomiting, lymph nodes may increase.

As a rule, chickenpox has a benign course and ends with the complete recovery of the baby. Severe forms occur with complications.

Diagnostics

There are other diseases that manifest as a rash on the body, and they can be much more dangerous than chickenpox, so a pediatrician should be called to make a diagnosis. An experienced doctor immediately makes a diagnosis based on a characteristic clinical picture. Questioning the mother is important: does the child go to a childcare facility, has there been contact with sick children.

By the nature of the rash, the doctor will determine what the child is sick with

Table: differences in symptoms of diseases with a rash

To make a diagnosis, it is enough for the doctor to examine the baby

Laboratory diagnostics has no practical value and, as a rule, is not used. A clinical blood test of a sick child shows an acceleration of ESR, which indicates an inflammatory process in the body.

The diagnosis can be confirmed by the following laboratory methods:

• microscopic examination of the contents of the vesicles with the detection of the virus;
• express diagnostics - an immunofluorescence reaction, in which viral antigens are detected in the biomaterial (smear or scraping from the vesicles);
• molecular genetic method - PCR (polymerase chain reaction) - by isolating the DNA of the virus in the blood of a sick child or the contents of vesicles;
• serological diagnostics - ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay), through which certain antibodies are determined in the blood.

All these analyzes are quite complex and are used extremely rarely.

Differential diagnosis is carried out with childhood infections, the characteristic symptom of which is a rash on the body - measles, scarlet fever, rubella, as well as with a herpetic rash, vesicular rickettsiosis, allergic manifestations, prickly heat, roseola and insect bites.

Chickenpox treatment

Usually the baby is treated at home. Referral to a hospital is required only in case of severe infection, complications. Infants are also hospitalized, in whom chickenpox almost always occurs in severe form.

During the period of fever, the baby needs bed rest, rest and careful care. The child must be provided with a sufficient amount of liquid. The room should not be hot, because in a too warm room the child sweats and the itching becomes stronger. Daily airing and wet cleaning are required. It is impossible to allow combing the rash so that the infection does not get into the wounds. The kid needs to cut his nails short and try to distract him, the smallest ones are recommended to wear shirts with sewn up sleeves.

With chickenpox, you need to ensure that the child does not comb the rash

If the temperature is not too high, bathing in warm water with the addition of medicinal plants - succession, chamomile, sage is allowed. They alleviate the condition of the baby and relieve itching. After water procedures, the child's body should be gently blotted with a cotton towel, not wiped, so as not to damage the bubbles. It is best to dress the patient in spacious cotton pajamas; there should not be any synthetics and tight-fitting clothes on him. Bed linen should be changed daily. Walking with the baby should be postponed until the end of the period of rashes.

Medications

Most often, only symptomatic treatment is required, that is, the appointment of drugs to alleviate the condition of a sick baby.

For fever, antipyretics are recommended: Paracetamol capsules (for young children - in syrup) or Ibuprofen (Nurofen). It is absolutely impossible to give acetylsalicylic acid to a patient in order to avoid the development of a dangerous Reye's syndrome.

To eliminate itching, the child is prescribed antihistamines - Suprastin (from 1 year old), Tavegil (from 1 year old in syrup, from 6 years old in tablets) at an age dosage.

Weakened children with impaired immune defenses require antiviral drugs. The early appointment of such funds helps to avoid complications and contributes to an easier course of the disease.

A severe form of chickenpox is treated with drugs of the following groups:

• virucidal agents:
  • Groprinosin or Novirin (inosine pranobex), Acyclovir (in the form of ointment and tablets);
• interferon preparations:
  • Viferon, Kipferon (in the form of rectal suppositories), Interferon alfa-2b;
• antiviral plant origin:
  • Flacoside, Alpizarin, Khelepin.

When pustules (bubbles with purulent contents) appear, antibiotics are required. At the same time, probiotics are prescribed for the prevention of dysbacteriosis and vitamin-mineral complexes.

Photo gallery: preparations for the treatment of chickenpox

Paracetamol is a safe antipyretic for chickenpox Acyclovir is a direct-acting antiviral drug for immunocompromised children. Suprastin is a first-generation antihistamine drug that effectively reduces itching in chickenpox Viferon - an interferon drug, is prescribed for severe forms of chickenpox Alpizarin - antiviral drug of plant origin

External means

Treatment of the skin of a child greatly relieves itching and serves as a prevention of complications in the form of a bacterial infection. Traditionally, an alcohol solution of brilliant green is used to dry the vesicles - ordinary green. To lubricate the bubbles, you can use methylene blue (medical blue), Miramistin, Fukortsin (contraindicated in children under one year old), pustules and ulcers on the mucous membranes are treated with Rivanol (Etacridine), 3% hydrogen peroxide, furatsilin. With the appearance of purulent discharge from the eyes, a solution of sodium sulfacyl can be used in drops.

Calamine lotion, Tsindol (zinc oxide), cooling hydrogel PoxClean well relieve itching and dry the rashes.

Photo gallery: topical preparations used for chickenpox

Tsindol - an external remedy for drying the rash with chickenpox and relieving itching Fukortsin - a remedy for the treatment of pustules with chickenpox Zelenka is traditionally used to lubricate rashes with chickenpox Calamine is designed to relieve itching and dry chickenpox vesicles. Miramistin - an external remedy for the treatment of chickenpox rash, used to prevent bacterial infection
PoxClean is designed to relieve itching in chickenpox

Feeding a sick child

There is no need to follow a special diet for chickenpox. Food should be easily digestible, fortified. It is necessary to remove heavy meat dishes from the menu, give the child more vegetables and fruits. It is desirable to include cereals in the diet - buckwheat, oatmeal, soups, dietary meat - rabbit, turkey, veal, low-fat fish, sour-milk products.

It is best to cook by boiling, stewing, baking, frying should be excluded. You should not force-feed a child, you should give the body the opportunity to fight the infection without overloading it with food. The baby should definitely be given more drink - tea, juice, fruit drink, fresh and dried fruit compote, rosehip drink, boiled water.

ethnoscience

Herbs for the treatment of chickenpox can be used only if the child is not allergic. Since rashes with chickenpox are usually plentiful, all over the body, it is reasonable to use herbal decoctions not only in the form of lotions, but also add them to the bath when bathing the baby.

Chamomile bath:

1. Crushed medicinal chamomile flowers (3 tablespoons) pour a liter of water.
2. Bring to a boil and simmer over low heat for 10 minutes.
3. Filter through cheesecloth and pour into bath.
4. You can bathe a baby with chamomile daily in the absence of high temperature.

A decoction of medicinal chamomile can be added to the bath when bathing a sick child

Bath with calendula:

1. Pour 2 tablespoons of raw materials with a liter of water and boil for 15 minutes over low heat.
2. Leave for 20 minutes, strain and pour into the bath.
3. Bathe the child with a decoction of calendula for 5-10 minutes.

For baths, you can also use decoctions of yarrow, succession and sage.

Calendula has anti-inflammatory and healing properties

To relieve itching and prevent bacterial infection, you can lubricate the bubbles with tea tree oil.

Prognosis and complications

In general, the prognosis of the disease is favorable and the child recovers completely. Bubbles disappear without a trace, pustules can leave scars.

Chickenpox scars can be visible for years

The disease is severe in children with a significant decrease in immunity and serious general pathologies. Severe atypical forms of chickenpox are rare, but can lead to complications in the form of myocarditis, viral pneumonia, encephalitis, nephritis, keratitis, lymphadenitis. More often there are complications from the skin - pyoderma, abscesses.

Severe forms of chickenpox occur with complications from the skin and internal organs.

Severe course with complications in the form of bronchopneumonia, enterocolitis, severe diarrhea, nephritis is characterized by congenital chickenpox. This form occurs when a pregnant woman is infected with a virus a few days before childbirth. The newborn in this case falls ill on the 6th-11th day of life. The probability of death in this form of chickenpox is approximately 30%.

Video: Dr. Komarovsky about chicken pox

Prevention

To prevent the spread of infection in the children's team, quarantine measures are being taken. A sick child is isolated for 10 days from the moment the first elements of the rash appear, all children in contact with him are separated for 3 weeks. Those who have been in contact with a sick child are not admitted to a kindergarten or school from the 11th to the 21st day after the last meeting with him (if the exact date is known). Due to the fact that the virus is very unstable in the environment, special disinfection in the focus is not carried out.

A vaccine against varicella has been developed. Non-sick children older than 1 year are vaccinated. The Japanese vaccine Okavax is used (once at any age) and the Belgian Varilrix (up to 13 years old once, for adolescents from 13 years old twice with an interval of 2 months). An adverse reaction to the vaccine may occur in the form of a slight fever, soreness and redness at the injection site, general malaise, and a rash.

Varilrix vaccine is used to prevent chickenpox

In our country, vaccination against chickenpox is not mandatory, it is recommended for medical reasons.

Chickenpox in children begins in the same way as the common cold - with general malaise, loss of appetite and sleep disturbance. Then a low body temperature appears and, simultaneously with it or a few hours later, a rash.

Symptoms of chickenpox in children are difficult to confuse with anything else. The red spots and small blisters that are characteristic of chickenpox are easy to distinguish from prickly heat and other manifestations of dermatitis. They vary in size from the size of a pinhead to a large pea. After a few days, pimples open up, dry up and leave behind crusts, which then fall off.

The rash appears in small portions within 2-5 days and is localized on the face, scalp, in the oral cavity, less often on the arms and legs.

Important!

The rashes are usually very itchy. Those that appear on the face sometimes leave erosions and even ulcers, and those that appear on the mucous membrane of the larynx can provoke laryngitis.

The course of chickenpox in children

Most babies feel good throughout the illness, but there are those who endure it hard - with a body temperature above 38 ° C. Against the background of a decrease in immunity, others often join the underlying disease and cause complications in the form of pneumonia, encephalitis, meningitis and neuritis. In these cases, treatment is carried out in a hospital.

If there is no threat of exacerbation of chickenpox in children, then the patients are at home. It is important that the baby, even at normal body temperature, does not leave the crib for 5 days, and the mother observes a strict care regimen. It is recommended to change bed linen daily and do wet cleaning, as well as regularly ventilate the room where the sick child is.

Instead of washing and bathing, wipe the face and body of the crumbs with a weak disinfectant solution several times a day. It is better to cut your nails short, put on a baby's undershirt with long sleeves or socks, and distract older children, preventing them from combing itchy parts of the body. If the film is torn off the blister, then the wound can become infected. As a result, it will take longer to heal and leave behind traces - pockmarks, which, most likely, will not be able to get rid of.

Important!

After the rashes stop, general hygiene procedures are indicated, in particular, baths with a weak solution of potassium permanganate.

A simple treatment plan for chickenpox in children

Chickenpox in children, which develops without complications, is quite simple to treat. The main prescription is to treat the blisters with an aqueous or alcoholic 1–2% solution of brilliant green, you can use 5?% cycloferon liniment or 1–2% potassium permanganate solution, calamine lotion, allomedin gel and other preparations. The oral cavity, even in the absence of rashes in it (and even more so with them), must be rinsed several times a day with disinfectant solutions. If the child is tormented by very severe itching, the doctor prescribes antihistamines.

In case of fever, in addition to staying in bed, an additional drink is useful - sweetened cranberry juice, lingonberry water, dried fruit compote, various juices. Drinks are given warm, and if the child is sick - cooled to room temperature, but not lower.

A special diet for chickenpox in children is not required. But with rashes in the oral cavity, you will have to give up solid food and give meat, fish, vegetables, fruits in a liquid, semi-liquid or puree form. It is better to feed the child more often, but only at his request, without insisting on a meal if the crumbs have no appetite. In any case, the child should be under the supervision of a pediatrician. In the first days, the doctor is obliged to visit the patient daily so as not to miss the onset of complications. And when it occurs, it is necessary to place the baby in a hospital.

Important!

For fever during chickenpox, aspirin or acetylsalicylic acid should not be used. The same recommendation is also relevant after vaccination against chickenpox: if the vaccine caused a significant increase in body temperature - from 38 ° C or more, the baby should be given a drug with paracetamol.

And we are in quarantine! chickenpox incubation period

The incubation period of chickenpox - the length of time from the moment the virus enters to the onset of the first symptoms of the disease - lasts 14 days. The child becomes contagious in the last days of the incubation period, 2-3 days before the appearance of the rash, and remains so 3-4 days after the last rash is detected.

Chickenpox contagiousness

If, after a period of treatment for chickenpox, not all rashes in children have passed, the kids still cease to be persona non grata. Dried and not fallen off crusts do not at all indicate that live viruses remain in them. Chickenpox is no longer infectious. A child with such residual effects should not be afraid, he is ready to visit kindergarten.

In accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation, the doctor who made the diagnosis (a pediatrician from a district clinic, a commercial medical center or a private practice) must inform the state sanitary and epidemiological service about a case of an infectious disease.

Parents can call the kindergarten and friends of the crumbs themselves, and this should be done as soon as possible. Children who had contact with a patient with chickenpox before the first symptoms of the disease appeared should stop contact with him, but not among themselves, that is, they, as before, are allowed to go to a preschool institution.

It will be more difficult for kids who, for various reasons, were absent from the group for 5 days or longer. They will have to stay at home for 21 days, which is the length of the chickenpox quarantine.

Important!

Chicken pox gives strong immunity for many years. Cases of re-infection are extremely rare and are always associated with a very sharp decrease in immunity.

To treat the rash, you can use an infusion of herbs: grass and flowers of yarrow, calendula, chamomile, string and sage, burdock roots are mixed in equal proportions. A tablespoon of the mixture is poured into 0.5 liters of boiling water, insisted for 30-40 minutes, filtered through gauze.

A vaccine against chickenpox has been developed.

Chickenpox is a disease that most of us have had time to recover from in childhood. However, having passed into the status of parents, yesterday's boys and girls are frightened when they see signs of an infectious disease in their own child. What are the symptoms of chickenpox, and why does the disease occur? We will tell you how to determine that the baby has chickenpox and what help he needs after identifying this disease.

What is chickenpox, what does it look like: the first signs

Chickenpox, or, simply, chickenpox, is a childhood infectious disease. The causative agent is a variety of the Varicella Zoster herpes virus, which is transmitted from an infectious child to other members of the children's team.

The child, having become infected with chickenpox, at first will feel satisfactory. Only at the end of the latent period will the initial signs of chickenpox appear in the child.

The appearance of the rash with chickenpox

How to understand that the baby has chickenpox? Its distinguishing feature is a rash, which is a blisters filled with liquid:

• Rashes of pink color, which are convex nodules no more than 4-5 mm in diameter. Pimples very quickly begin to capture an increasing surface of the body, but it happens that they are localized only on the back, abdomen and on the folds of the limbs.
• At the same time, the baby may have a fever, aches in the joints, general weakness. There may be mild signs of respiratory illness.

Disease dynamics

The child fell ill with chickenpox - what is the dynamics of the onset of symptoms of this disease? The temperature occurs only at the beginning of the disease, then it gradually normalizes, and each nodule (papule) on the patient's body goes through several stages of transformation. After the appearance, it begins to fill with fluid and increase in size, turning into a vesicle. Then its contents become cloudy, and it bursts. From this moment, the healing of the wound begins - it is covered with a crust, which later disappears.

Pimples appear and disappear in waves. While the acute stage of the disease lasts, a rash of varying degrees of maturation can be seen on the body of children at the same time. The photo shows how papules, vesicles and drying crusts look.

In parallel with the rash, which often captures the face and even the head under the hair, enanthema may occur on the oral mucosa. These are the same pimples as on the body, but after they burst, a small sore with a yellow border remains in their place. After appropriate treatment, the wounds in the mouth heal.

You can see what the pimples look like by looking at the photo.

Chickenpox is more common in young children. In a one-year-old child and children under 12 years of age, the disease usually proceeds without complications, is easily tolerated, forming lifelong immunity. Teenager got chickenpox? The course of the disease will be more severe than in younger children. Worst of all, if chickenpox overtakes an adult, because in this case the disease is most difficult to tolerate.

Causes of the disease

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The disease is transmitted by airborne droplets, and more often children bring it from kindergarten. In a confined space, the virus spreads rapidly, and as soon as someone from the team gets sick, new victims of the virus are immediately discovered. According to the rules, quarantine is declared in the group, the duration of which is three weeks from the date of registration of the disease. During this time, do any of the kids get chickenpox? Then the quarantine is extended.

Children who were not in the group at the time the virus was detected are not recommended to be taken to the garden during quarantine. However, some parents, on the contrary, bring the baby to the group (on receipt), because they want him to get chickenpox while he is small. Such a policy is designed to protect a person from the disease in the future.

The first signs of the disease at the initial stage

Chickenpox proceeds according to a typical scenario. After infection, an incubation period begins, which lasts an average of 2 days:

1. at this time, the virus does not appear, but it has already invaded the mucous membranes of the respiratory tract, then entered the bloodstream;
2. together with the blood and lymph, Varicella Zoster spreads throughout the body, fixes itself in the cells of the skin and mucous membranes, starting its work there.

As a rule, the first signs of chickenpox in a child are a rash, accompanied by fever and a general deterioration in the condition. The first pimple (at the beginning of the illness, it looks like in the photo below) can appear anywhere - on the back, stomach, face, and after a couple of hours the rash covers most of the baby's body (we recommend reading:). Temperature and weakness disappear already on the second day, and the further course of the disease is characterized only by a rash.

Where do spots and nodules appear more often, where does the spread of infection begin? First of all, they occur on closed parts of the body - back, pope, abdomen. Rarely - on the arms and legs.

Forms of chickenpox

Despite the fact that chickenpox is a well-known disease, it can occur in different ways. There are two types of chickenpox - typical and atypical. The symptoms of typical chickenpox are described above.

Atypical chickenpox is rare and affects immunocompromised people. There are such forms of atypical chicken pox:

• Rudimentary - a hidden disease. Its symptoms are so insignificant that a person does not notice the disease.
• Pustular - this type of disease is usually noted in adults. Rashes (pustules) are in no hurry to dry out and turn into crusts. Over time, the contents of the blisters become cloudy and become purulent.
• Bullous - a rash on the skin becomes gigantic and difficult to treat. Symptoms of severe intoxication are also possible, after which the patient slowly and heavily recovers.
• Hemorrhagic and gangrenous - occurs in people with impaired blood clotting, which fills the pustules. Over time, ulcers and foci of necrosis form. Gangrenous form begins, which can cause death.
• Visceral - bubbles with liquid contents appear not only on the body, but also on the internal organs. It occurs in infants whose body is weakened. This form is deadly.

Chickenpox can be mild, moderate, or severe. A mild form of the disease manifests itself as follows:

• the rash does not cover the entire body, but only certain areas;
• the temperature remains normal or slightly elevated (37.1 -37.3 ° C);
• the general condition is satisfactory.

The moderate and severe forms are characterized by significant rashes all over the body, fever up to 40 ° C, as well as general malaise. The severe form can last longer than a week and cause complications.

How to diagnose the disease and understand that it is chicken pox?

Very rarely, chickenpox can be confused with another disease. It is possible to determine the presence of the Varicella Zoster virus at an early stage based on the results of studies (viroscopy, molecular biological). However, more often chickenpox is diagnosed by the appearance of pustules and vesicles - you can see how they look in the photo above:

• As a rule, a rash can be distinguished on the patient's body in different stages - the initial one is characterized by pink, raised pimples, then they turn into pustules and vesicles filled with fluid, and crusts.
• You can also recognize the disease by a bright symptom - an enanthema appears in the mouth. In fact, this is the same rash as on the body, but forming on the mucosa.
• Around the bubble, a manifestation of a red rim is noticeable, and after the blister bursts, an ulcer forms in its place, which heals safely over time.

Why is windmill dangerous?

Chickenpox is not a dangerous disease, since most patients tolerate it relatively easily. However, one in twenty patients may develop complications. Consider the most common:

• Bacterial skin lesions, when vesicles burst, and purulent formations (abscesses) appear in their place.
• Inflammation of the lungs, provoked by the chickenpox virus, which has penetrated into the alveoli of the respiratory organs.
• Inflammation of the brain - encephalitis. Occurs when a virus destroys nerve cells in the brain. As a rule, signs of complications appear closer to the end of the disease - 5 to 21 days after the first symptoms. Dizziness, nausea, lethargy, loss of consciousness are possible.
• A complication of the heart is myocarditis. Symptoms of dysfunction of the heart muscle - high fever, rapid heartbeat, the appearance of chest pain.
• Lymphadenitis. The disease can cause inflammation of the lymph nodes, usually under the armpits, in the groin, on the neck.
• Nephritis is a disease of parts of the kidneys called glomeruli that can develop by the end of the second week of chickenpox.
• Complication of pregnancy. In the early stages, the infection can cause a miscarriage, or lead to a lag in the development of the fetus. In the later stages of bearing a child, the disease of the mother can create conditions for the formation of chickenpox syndrome in the crumbs.

First aid and effective treatments

Consider how chickenpox should be treated. Since the disease is caused by a virus, there are no effective ways to influence it. The main task is to prevent complications and enable the body to overcome the infection on its own. It is equally important not to let the baby comb the wounds, so that scars or pockmarks do not form in their place over time.

Medical preparations

Treatment of rashes is considered a key treatment for chickenpox. Pimples can not be treated with an antiseptic, but then during combing, the baby can introduce an infection (bacterial) into the wound:

1. Nodules and pustules are lubricated with brilliant green, a solution of potassium permanganate, Fukortsin. The procedure is carried out 3-4 times a day.
2. To relieve itching and to avoid scratching, a small patient is given antihistamines. Pediatricians usually prescribe Fenistil or Zodak in drops. Older children can be given Suprastin 1/2 tablet at bedtime.
3. Antiviral drugs, such as Acyclovir, are also used to treat chickenpox. It can be taken in tablets, and lubricated with ointment for rashes. However, Acyclovir is more often used in severe cases of the disease and only in the initial stage. Before use, you need to read the description of the drug with explanations of the dosage.
4. Does the baby have signs of intoxication of the body - fever, headache and body aches? It makes sense to give him painkillers. As a rule, babies are prescribed Nurofen, Panadol, Efferalgan.

Hygiene

How to properly care for a child during an exacerbation of the disease and is it possible to bathe him? This question is still a matter of controversy among medical professionals. Foreign pediatricians recommend bathing the baby, regardless of the stage of the disease, trying not to damage the pustules.

Domestic experts are usually against water procedures. You can bathe a son or daughter only after the acne has begun to dry out. They argue such a ban by the fact that during bathing, the bubbles can be damaged and become infected. However, on hot days, a periodic shower is necessary - a sweaty child will imperceptibly comb itchy and irritated skin.

It is important to choose underwear and clothes made from natural fabrics, as well as to monitor their cleanliness. This is necessary in order not to provoke itching on the affected areas of the body. You also need to control the cleanliness of the baby's hands, cut their nails on time. It can scratch vesicles, promoting the spread of the virus to healthy skin and infection of burst sores with pathogenic bacteria.

Drinking regime

During any illness, the child needs a sufficient amount of fluid. If at first the baby has a high temperature and intoxication - even more so. What should be the daily dosage of liquid? The calculation of the daily volume is made according to the age of the child. For example, a 3-year-old baby needs 105 ml of water per 1 kg of weight per day. For an older child (7 years old) - 95 ml per kilogram of weight.

In this case, you should give the child not only water, but also other drinks - tea, compote, fruit drink. A baby can receive part of the liquid volume as part of liquid dishes - soups.

Folk remedies

There are folk remedies to combat chickenpox. It is believed that blueberries inhibit the virus, so it is recommended to use them fresh and as juice, compote, fruit drink. Among the many folk recipes are the following:

• baths. Prepare decoctions of medicinal herbs - chamomile, lemon balm, sage and add to bathing water. Soda baths are also shown, which have an antiseptic and antipruritic effect.
• Rubbing. Boil 1 glass of barley in one liter of water, strain. Use decoction to wipe stains. This method helps relieve itching.
• Herbal infusions for oral administration. Take 2 tbsp. l. dry mixture of chamomile, coltsfoot, calendula, chicory, immortelle and burdock, pour into a thermos and pour 0.5 liters of boiling water. Infuse for eight hours, drink half a glass three times a day.

Therapy for young children

Children under one year of age rarely get chickenpox, but if a child is infected from 6 months old, a severe course is possible. As a rule, there is a high temperature (about 40 ° C), tearfulness and a rash, which quickly turns into a purulent form. At this age, it is important to call a doctor who can recommend hospitalization.

What is chickenpox Chickenpox (chickenpox) is a viral disease transmitted by airborne aerosol from an infected person to a healthy one and is characterized by specific skin rashes in the form of vesicles that appear against the background of severe fever and other signs of general poisoning of the body.

Chicken pox has been known since antiquity. Until the second half of the eighteenth century, the disease was considered as a mild variant of the course of smallpox or smallpox, which in those days was a real disaster that devastated entire settlements.

It was not until the beginning of the last century that a link was discovered between chickenpox and herpes zoster (shingles). At the same time, a hypothesis arose about the general nature of the disease. However, the causative virus was isolated only in 1951.

At the same time, it turned out that a person who has had chickenpox has a so-called intense lifelong immunity, when immunity to an infection is explained by the presence of a pathogen in the body.

In an unfavorable combination of circumstances, the virus “sleeping” in the nerve nodes is activated, causing clinical manifestations of herpes zoster - bubble rashes along the affected nerve.

Shingles. Eruptions along the intercostal nerve.

Today, chicken pox is one of the most common diseases (ranks third after influenza and SARS). Mostly children are ill (patients under the age of 14 make up about 80-90% of all cases), it is this category of the population that has almost 100% susceptibility to the causative agent of chicken pox. Therefore, chickenpox refers to the so-called "children's" infections.

The disease, as a rule, proceeds in a mild to moderate form, so that deaths are extremely rare. For this reason, many experts have long treated chickenpox as a "non-serious" disease.

However, recent studies have shown that with chickenpox, not only the skin and nervous tissue are affected, but also the digestive system, lungs, and organs of the urogenital area. In addition, the chickenpox virus can have an extremely negative impact on the development of the fetus and the course of pregnancy.

Chickenpox causative agent

All herpesviruses have a genome consisting of double-stranded DNA. They are quite sensitive to external physical and chemical influences, including high temperature and ultraviolet radiation.

Most viruses of this group can stay in an infected organism for a long time, sometimes even for life, without causing any clinical symptoms. Therefore, they are classified as so-called slow infections (herpes, shingles, etc.). Under adverse circumstances, a dormant infection can become more active and manifest itself as pronounced signs of the disease.

Herpesviruses are easily transmitted from person to person, so that the majority of the world's population has time to become infected even in childhood. The causative agents of this group are characterized by polyorganic and polysystemic lesions, which is associated with a teratogenic effect (the occurrence of deformities in the fetus) and the death of debilitated patients, especially newborns.

It should be noted that all herpes viruses have a depressing effect on the immune system and are activated against the background of other diseases that occur with a pronounced decrease in the body's defenses (AIDS, leukemia, malignant tumors).

The chickenpox and herpes zoster virus (Varicella zoster virus) is able to multiply exclusively in the nucleus of cells of an infected person, while in the external environment it quickly dies under the influence of sunlight, heat and other adverse factors. In droplets of saliva and mucus, the chickenpox virus can persist for no more than 10-15 minutes.

How does the chickenpox virus spread?

Traditionally, chickenpox is classified as a respiratory disease, but the virus appears in the nasopharyngeal mucus only when the surface of the mucous membrane is also covered with rashes. But even in such cases, swabs from the nasopharynx contain a significantly smaller number of pathogens than the contents of the vesicles located on the skin.

The crusts formed at the site of bursting varicella vesicles do not contain pathogens, therefore, the period of the patient's greatest contagiousness is determined from the moment the rash appears to the period of crust formation.

Infection occurs by airborne droplets - through the inhalation of air containing mucus elements. It should be noted that chickenpox got its name because of the special volatility of the infection - the virus can spread to a distance of up to 20 m, penetrating through the corridors of residential premises and even from one floor to another.

In addition, chickenpox can be passed from a pregnant woman to her baby through the placenta. It should be noted that adult women rarely get chickenpox. So most often, infection of the fetus occurs when a persistent (dormant) infection is activated in the form of shingles.

If infection of the fetus occurs in the first trimester (in the first 12 weeks from the first day of the last menstruation), then there is a high risk of having a child with severe malformations. Infection at a later date, as a rule, leads to the manifestation of infection after birth, but not in the form of chickenpox, but in the form of herpes zoster.

Who is most susceptible to chickenpox?

However, maternal antibodies are gradually washed out of the body and can fully restrain the development of the disease only during the first year of a child's life.

Then the susceptibility to chickenpox increases, reaching almost 100% of the maximum at the age of 4-5 years. Since the vast majority of the population has time to become infected with chickenpox in childhood, this form of infection with Varicella zoster virus is quite rare in adults.

Shingles, which develops in those who have had chickenpox, on the contrary, usually occurs in old age (65% of cases of the disease are recorded in patients over 65 years of age).

Thus, chickenpox mainly affects children, and shingles - the elderly. However, both diseases can develop at almost any age.

Chickenpox is quite dangerous in terms of epidemics, so outbreaks of chickenpox are often recorded in children's groups (kindergartens, schools, sanatoriums, etc.). At the same time, such a mini-epidemic may also occur as a result of contact with an adult patient with herpes zoster.

At the same time, there are also sporadic (outside the epidemic outbreak) cases of chickenpox, when the patient can be isolated in a timely manner, preventing the spread of infection.

The incidence of chickenpox is characterized by a peculiar cyclical appearance of epidemics. At the same time, small cycles of epidemics are distinguished, repeating after several years, and large ones - with an interval of 20 years or more.

In autumn, there is a significant increase in the incidence of chickenpox, associated with the mass return of children to kindergartens and schools. The rise in the incidence in the spring is caused by sharp fluctuations in temperature and a seasonal decrease in immunity.

Signs, symptoms and clinical course of chickenpox

Classification of clinical manifestations of chickenpox

With a localized form, lesions are limited to the outer surface of the body, when specific pathological elements appear on the skin and mucous membranes. Generalized forms are found in debilitated patients and are characterized by damage not only to the external integument, but also to the internal organs.

In addition, there are three degrees of severity of the course of the disease - mild, moderate and severe. The severity of the clinical course is determined by the nature of the pathological elements, the area of ​​the affected surface, the severity of intoxication and the prevalence of the process.

When establishing a diagnosis, the doctor indicates the severity of the course, the prevalence of the process and the presence of complications. For example: “Chicken pox, generalized form, severe course. Complication: bilateral focal pneumonia.

During chickenpox, like any other infectious disease, there are four periods:

• incubation (the period of latent course of infection);
• prodromal (a period of general malaise, when the specific symptoms of the infection have not yet manifested sufficiently brightly);
• the period of developed clinical symptoms;
• recovery period.

Incubation and prodromal period in chickenpox

Once in the upper respiratory tract, viral bodies penetrate the epithelial cells of the mucous membranes and begin to multiply there intensively. The entire incubation period is the accumulation of viral bodies. Having reached a significant concentration, the infection breaks through local protective barriers and massively enters the bloodstream, causing viremia.

Clinically, viremia is manifested by symptoms of the prodromal period, such as malaise, headache, loss of appetite, muscle aches. However, chickenpox is characterized by a rapid and acute onset, the prodrome is usually only a few hours, so that patients often simply do not notice it.
Infection with blood through the bloodstream and with the flow of interstitial fluid through the lymphatic vessels spreads throughout the body and is fixed mainly in the cells of the epithelium of the skin and mucous membranes of the upper respiratory tract. It is also possible to damage the nervous tissue - the cells of the intervertebral ganglions, the cerebral cortex and subcortical structures.

In those rare cases when the disease proceeds in a generalized form, cells of the liver, lungs, and gastrointestinal tract are affected.

Intensive reproduction of the virus causes symptoms characteristic of the period of rashes: rash, fever and signs of general poisoning of the body.

The period of rashes with chickenpox

In the future, the upper layers of the skin are peeled off, as a result of which a bubble is formed filled with a clear liquid - a vesicle. Sometimes the vesicles suppurate, turning into pustules.

Vesicles filled with serous fluid or pus can open, in such cases a weeping surface opens under them. However, more often they dry out, forming crusts.

Initially, the rash appears on the skin of the trunk and limbs, and then on the face and scalp. Less commonly, a rash appears on the palms, soles, mucous membranes of the mouth, nasopharynx, external genital organs, and on the conjunctiva of the eyes. As a rule, such rashes indicate a severe form of the disease. In such cases, the rash appears on the mucous membranes earlier than on the surface of the skin.

Chickenpox is characterized by the appearance of new elements of the rash - the so-called "sprinkling". As a result, on the 3-4th day from the moment the rash appears, different elements can be found on one area of ​​​​the skin - spots, papules, vesicles and crusts

chicken pox elements

Vesicles with chickenpox, as a rule, are single-chamber and, with a favorable course of the disease, quickly dry out, transforming into crusts. At the same time, the number of elements of the rash can be different - from single vesicles, which can be easily counted, to abundant rashes that cover the skin and mucous membranes in a continuous layer.

Rashes on the surface of the skin are accompanied by severe itching. Lesions of the mucous membranes of the mouth, which occur in about 20-25% of cases, are accompanied by profuse salivation. In the oral cavity, the bubbles quickly open and expose the eroded surface, which leads to a pronounced pain syndrome and difficulty in eating.

Fever and signs of general poisoning of the body most pronounced during the period of mass entry of the virus into the blood. Therefore, the temperature rises sharply during the onset of the rash. Each repeated rash is accompanied by a rise in temperature and a deterioration in the patient's condition.
General poisoning of the body is manifested by weakness, loss of appetite, headache, muscle aches, sleep disturbance. Nausea and vomiting often occur. There is a tendency to lower blood pressure.

With common forms of the disease elements characteristic of chickenpox are formed on the mucous membranes of the digestive tract, as well as in the bronchi. At the same time, erosion quickly occurs at the site of the bubbles, which threatens the development of internal bleeding. In severe cases, the virus multiplies in the liver cells, causing foci of necrosis.

The causative agent of chickenpox often affects the nervous tissue, while the changes can be of a different nature from minor reversible deviations to gross organic defects.

Among the common forms of the disease, varicella pneumonia is most common. In such cases, the intoxication syndrome increases, the fever reaches 39-40 degrees and above. Pallor and cyanosis of the skin, dry painful cough, shortness of breath appear.

It is also quite common to develop lesions of the nervous system, such as meningitis (inflammation of the meninges) and encephalitis (inflammation of the brain). In such cases, various kinds of disturbances of consciousness are often observed up to the development of a coma. Chickenpox encephalitis is especially severe - mortality reaches 20%.

Damage to the heart (myocarditis, endocarditis), liver (hepatitis), kidney (nephritis) and other internal organs are relatively rare.

Recovery period for chicken pox

Since only the superficial layers of the skin are affected in chickenpox, the rash usually disappears without a trace. For some time, in place of the fallen crusts, the so-called pigmentation remains - a change in skin color. Over time, this symptom disappears completely.

The clinical symptoms of periods of chickenpox depend on the severity of the course of the disease.

How can chickenpox occur?

With a moderate illness, the fever rises to 38-39 degrees and lasts for about a week. Rashes are located mainly on the skin. The prognosis for such a course of chickenpox is favorable - complications, as a rule, do not develop, and the disease passes without a trace.

In severe chickenpox, an extremely high fever (40 degrees Celsius and above) develops, increasing weakness occurs, and profuse rashes appear that cover the surface of the skin and mucous membranes. Severe course is also spoken of in cases where the disease occurs in a generalized form. In addition, hemorrhagic, bullous and gangrenous-necrotic forms of the disease are characterized by a severe course.

The hemorrhagic form of chickenpox occurs against the background of increased vascular permeability and is characterized by the appearance of blood-filled vesicles, multiple hemorrhages on the skin and mucous membranes. Often there are complications in the form of nasal, uterine and gastrointestinal bleeding.

The bullous form of the disease is less commonly observed, when large flaccid blisters filled with pus appear on the skin. The overwhelming majority of patients with the bullous form are young children with a sharply weakened immune system.

The purulent-necrotic form of chickenpox is extremely rare, which is a combination of bullous and hemorrhagic forms. In such cases, deep necrosis forms at the site of the opened blisters, and blood infection develops.

The severe course of chickenpox, as a rule, indicates a lack of body defenses (AIDS, leukemia, dystrophy, malignant tumors, tuberculosis, sepsis (blood poisoning)).

Features of the course of chickenpox in adults

• higher and longer fever;
• the rash appears later (the prodromal period is better expressed), but it is more abundant and the crusts form much later;
• much more often the mucous membranes are affected (in 40-60% of cases).

Effect on the fetus

At later stages of pregnancy, intrauterine infection of the fetus is not so dangerous. However, in cases where infection occurred on the eve of or during childbirth, congenital chickenpox develops. This disease is always quite severe (mortality reaches 20%).

Chickenpox care: how to protect yourself and others from infection

The only consolation is that most adults, as a rule, have time to endure this disease in childhood, and in babies, chickenpox is relatively mild.

Doctors advise children who have been in contact with a person with chickenpox not to visit children's institutions for 21 days so as not to endanger others.

An ill child can be sent to a children's institution on the day when all the elements of the rash are covered with crusts - from that moment on, the patient is no longer contagious.

The virus is unstable in the external environment, so no special disinfection measures should be carried out.

Chickenpox treatment

Medical therapy

In mild to moderate cases, treatment is usually carried out at home. In severe forms of chickenpox, as well as in cases of high risk of complications (the presence of concomitant diseases leading to a decrease in immunity), the patient is placed in a closed box of the infectious diseases department.

To date, antiviral therapy for chickenpox has been developed. Adolescents and adults are prescribed the drug acyclovir 800 mg orally 5 times a day for a week. The same drug will also help children under 12 years of age, if it is prescribed no later than on the first day of the disease (20 mg / kg of body weight 4 times a day).

In immunocompromised patients with chickenpox, it is recommended to administer intravenously 10 mg/kg of body weight 3 times a day for 7 days.

It should be noted that many doctors consider antiviral therapy for chickenpox in mild and moderate disease inappropriate.

If the disease occurs with a fever above 38-38.5 degrees, it is best to take paracetamol (Efferalgan, Panadol) as an antipyretic, which does not adversely affect the immune system.

The use of acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin) is strictly prohibited, since this medicine can cause hemorrhagic syndrome in chickenpox (the appearance of a bloody rash, nosebleeds, etc.).
Many experts advise taking antihistamines such as claritin instead of antipyretics. Children from 2 to 12 years old are prescribed one spoonful of syrup 1 time per day, adolescents and adults 1 tablet (10 mg) 1 time per day.

General care

Many experts are very skeptical about the therapeutic effect of brilliant green, since such procedures ultimately do not contribute to the speedy healing of the rash. However, such cauterization temporarily reduces the painful itching and has a disinfecting effect, preventing the penetration of bacteria and the development of pustules.

In addition, lubricating chickenpox elements with brilliant green makes it easy to identify fresh rashes and monitor the course of the disease.

For rashes in the oral cavity, it is advised to use the antiseptic furatsilin and preparations of medicinal plants with anti-inflammatory effects (colanchoe juice, calendula, oak bark) for rinsing. In cases where rashes are located on the conjunctiva of the eyes, interferon drops are prescribed.

Since the disease proceeds with signs of general poisoning of the body, patients are advised to drink enough fluids so that toxins are quickly removed from the body.

Nutrition should be complete and contain an increased amount of proteins and vitamins. It is best to give preference to easily digestible food (dairy-vegetarian diet). If the mucous membrane of the oral cavity is affected, spicy and sour dishes should be excluded.

Bed rest with chickenpox is prescribed only in severe cases of the disease, it is necessary to avoid overheating, since excessive heat increases itching.

Of course, in cases where the room is too hot and the child suffers from itching, it is better to take a shower and then gently pat the skin dry with a towel.

Prevention of chickenpox through vaccination

However, since chickenpox in children is mild, vaccination is prescribed only according to indications (the presence of severe diseases that reduce immunity).

The consequences of chickenpox

More serious consequences occur when skin rashes are combined with lesions of the central nervous system. Perhaps the development of mental retardation, epileptic seizures, paralysis, etc.
An unfavorable prognosis is distinguished by malignant forms of chicken pox, such as bullous, hemorrhagic, gangrenous, and generalized infection. In such cases, mortality can reach 25% or more, and the survivors may have rough scars on the skin in places of pathological rashes, severe irreversible changes in the internal organs and the nervous system.

In general, the outcome of chickenpox depends on comorbidities and the state of the immune system. Severe complications and deaths are more common in young children and the elderly.

Can you get chickenpox again?

How to treat chickenpox during pregnancy?

In addition, the chickenpox virus is able to cross the placenta and cause gross developmental disorders of the fetus (in the first half of pregnancy) and extremely severe forms of congenital chickenpox in newborns (if infected on the eve of childbirth).

To avoid a tragic development of events, passive immunization is carried out for pregnant women (the introduction of a specific immunoglobulin).

Otherwise, the treatment of chickenpox during pregnancy is the same as in other categories of patients.