The body is equal to a healthy immune system. Your system has the best and most efficient pharmacy. Eat well and exercise regularly to strengthen your immunity.

Suffering from certain disorders can be beneficial at times. It seems strange that diseases might be advantageous to one's health. However, some diseases help to strengthen our immune systems and cleanse our blood. Chickenpox is one among them, and in this article, we'll go over all you need to know about chickenpox, as Dr Muhammad Sharafat Ali explained.

What is Chickenpox?

Chickenpox, commonly known as varicella, is a contagious disease that causes itchy red blisters to form all over the body. A virus causes this. It frequently affects children, and it was once thought to be a rite of passage for them.

It's pretty uncommon to get chickenpox more than once. Since the introduction of the chickenpox vaccine in the mid-1990s, cases have decreased. Chickenpox is particularly harmful to immune system disorders, such as leukemia, or immune-suppressing drugs, such as steroids.

Chickenpox And Immunity

After being exposed to the varicella-zoster virus, people can acquire chickenpox. It is typically a mild sickness that affects children. Chickenpox usually only happens once in a lifetime. After receiving the virus, a person will be immune to it for the rest of their life.

It can, however, be more severe if it hits an adult who is not immune to it. It can also be harmful to newborns and children who have other health problems.

In addition, the virus might remain inactive or dormant in the body. It can reactivate later in life, causing shingles, a painful illness. As a result, gaining immunity from a young age and controlled manner is a good idea.

What Are The Symptoms Of Chickenpox?

The most frequent symptom of chickenpox is an itchy rash. The infection must be present in your body for seven to twenty-one days before the inflammation, and other symptoms appear. Up to 48 hours before the skin rash appears, you become contagious to others around you. The following non-rash symptoms may persist a few days:

• Fever
• Headache
• A decrease in appetite

The characteristic rash will appear one or two days after you first notice these symptoms. Before you recover, the inflammation passes through three stages. These are some of them:

• Red or pink lumps appear all over your body.
• The lumps develop into blisters that bleed fluid.
• The bumps start to crust over, scab over and heal.

At the same time, the bumps on your body will not all be in the same phase. Throughout your infection, new pimples will appear. The rash can be extremely itchy, particularly before it scabs over and forms a crust. Eventually, the crusty scabbed regions come off. It takes seven to fourteen days for it to vanish.

What Causes Chickenpox?

Chickenpox is caused by the varicella-zoster virus (VZV). Contact with an infected person causes the majority of instances. For one to two days before your blisters emerge, the virus is contagious to everyone around you. Until all blisters have crusted over, VZV is contagious. The virus can be propagated by:

• Saliva
• Coughing
• Sneezing
• Touch with the blisters' fluid

How Is Chickenpox Diagnosed?

You should consult your doctor when you have an inexplicable rash, especially if cold symptoms or a fever follow it. You could be infected with one of several viruses or diseases. If you are pregnant and have been exposed to chickenpox, contact your doctor very once.

A physical examination of blisters on you or your child's body may be enough for your doctor to diagnose chickenpox. Alternatively, lab testing might be used to determine the cause of the blisters.

Complications 

Complications are more common in adults than in children, but they are still uncommon in adults. The risk of problems increases if the blisters get infected with bacteria. Complications are more probable in pregnant women, neonates, and babies up to 4 weeks old, as well as those with compromised immune systems.

They may be infectious if the skin around the patches and blisters becomes red, painful, or sore. Chickenpox can lead to pneumonia in some individuals.

• Encephalitis is a type of brain inflammation that can occur.
• Reye's syndrome is a rare but deadly disorder that can develop in children and teenagers after a viral infection, such as chickenpox. It causes swelling in the liver and brain.

The majority of persons who suffer difficulties will recover completely.

How Can Chickenpox be prevented?

Chickenpox is prevented in 98 percent of patients who take the two recommended doses of the chickenpox vaccine. When your youngster is between the ages of 12 and 15, they should obtain the vaccine. Between the ages of 4 and 6, children receive a booster shot.

Adults and older children who have not been vaccinated or exposed to the virus may be given a catch-up dose of the vaccine. Because chickenpox is more severe in older individuals, those who haven't been vaccinated may choose to wait until they are.

Those who cannot take the vaccine might try to avoid contracting the virus by avoiding close contact with sick individuals. However, this can be challenging. Blisters do not reveal the presence of chickenpox until it has already spread to others.

How Is Chickenpox Treated?
Most people with chickenpox will be told to control their symptoms until the virus has passed through their system. Parents will be advised to keep their children out of school and daycare to prevent the virus from spreading. Adults who have been infected must likewise stay at home.

Antihistamine medicines or topical ointments may be prescribed by your doctor or purchased over the counter to assist relieve itching. You can also use the following methods to relieve itchy skin:

• Bathing in lukewarm water
• Using an unscented lotion
• Putting on light, comfortable clothing

If you have virus-related issues or risk side effects, your doctor may prescribe antiviral medicines. The young, the elderly, and those with existing medical conditions are all at significant risk. Chickenpox is not curable with these antiviral medications. They lessen the severity of the symptoms by decreasing virus activity. Your immune system will be able to mend more quickly as a result of this.

Conclusion

Chickenpox is a highly contagious viral virus that strikes youngsters frequently. Because the body develops antibodies to the virus, most people only get chickenpox once in their lives. Chickenpox symptoms are usually moderate in otherwise healthy children and will go away in a week or so. Some people, however, have difficulties as a result of the infection or later in life. Getting vaccinated against chickenpox is the safest approach to avoid infection.