The risk of complications increases for people with a weak immune system, for newborns, for pregnant women and for adults.
If the infection is not treated properly, and the virus still remains in the body it can lead from an easy form of chicken pox to more complex infections like shingles. So, if the varicella virus is not completely removed from the patient's body the risk for the virus to travel to the ganglia and stay latent for a long period is high. After different amounts of time the virus travels back to the skin and causes shingles, more painful blisters.
The chances to develop shingles, after you had chicken pox are about 1 out of 5. That's why chicken pox should be taken seriously and treated in the same way because of the complications that may occur in the time of infection but after it too.
Many problems may be caused by chicken pox. One of its complications is a secondary bacterial infection of the chicken pox lesions. These secondary infections are superficial but can affect in any time the bloodstream causing bacteremia. The possible bacteria that can affect the blisters are staphylococcus aureus and streptococcus pyogenes and can lead to infections as impetigo, furunculosis, erysipelas or lymphadenitis. Secondary infections in the case of chicken pox are usually treated with antibiotics because otherwise if bacterimia is developed, the risk of pneumonia, meningitis or even heart disease increase considerably.
Neurologic problems can also appear because of chicken pox. One of the most severe complications that can result is called cerebellar ataxia, a cruel disease that involves problems with walking, progressive irritability, problems with speaking or eye problems. Another problem that may occur is called varicella meningoencephalitis. This chicken pox complication can be treated in less than three days. Its symptoms are delirium, headache and neck pain.
The third type of complications is respiratory problems. This is the main cause of death in chicken pox cases. A small percentage of patients with chicken pox develop varicella pneumonia, about 2 in a thousand, but the risk of developing this disease still exist and nobody is willing to take that chance, so treatments are followed exactly as prescribed. The causes for varicella pneumonia are old age chicken pox or a weak immune system. Pregnant women are also prone to develop this type of complications.
Another type of complications is liver problems. If medicine is not prescribed correctly problems with liver may appear. Aspirin is not recommended if high fever is lasting, especially for children. This treatment used to cause liver inflammation and even hepatitis.
Chicken pox is very common in children, being actually a children' s disease. It is very contagious and it is actually nothing but a viral infection. Chicken pox is cause by a virus called varicella zoster, thus the medical term for chicken pox: varicella. There are few complications in chicken pox cases, but when they occur, they are very serious. It does not matter if you are otherwise healthy.
Children under 10 years old are the main target of chicken pox. Adults can catch chicken pox as well, but this is very rare. Once you have had chicken pox, you can not develop it again. However, if you have not had chicken pox by the time you were ten, then things do not look so good. Older children and adults that develop chicken pox risk more severe complications. Winter and spring are the most common seasons for chicken pox. There are also some people that are more vulnerable to chicken pox than others. For example kids that are immunosuppressed or newborns are especially vulnerable to chicken pox.
The first time that you come in contact with a person that has chicken pox or other factors that put you at risk of developing chicken pox, you will have no visible signs of infection. This happens because chicken pox has a period of incubation that lasts somewhere between two and three weeks. After this period of time, you will start to have symptoms. Fever, but a mild one and headaches are the first signs of chicken pox. Then, after only a couple of hours, a rash will start to appear on your skin. This is the first visible chicken pox symptom. At the beginning you will see only some little, red spots on your skin that will quickly turn into blisters filled of fluid. This is the second important step in chicken pox. These blisters are very itchy. Then, just after a few days, these blisters scab over then dry up and eventually fall off. This is the way things evolve in chicken pox. Some, but very rare, cases of chicken pox have no symptoms so the disease will actually go unnoticed.
Some parts of your child' s body are more likely to be affected by chicken pox than others. The chest and upper part of your child' s back are the ares where the rash will first appear. However, chicken pox may affect your whole body, even the mouth. These are more rare cases of chicken pox, but they can exist.
Chicken pox can also lead to complications. The most common of all chicken pox complications is the secondary infection. This chicken pox complication can be fatal.
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