Symptoms of Chickenpox ( varicella ) may vary from pacient to pacient making us see people that have headaches, flue like symptoms or even fever, that in some cases can reach 105 F, and swollen glands are also included. The incubation period of the theChickenpox may also vary from 10 to 20 days, again depending on the pacient and its immune system.
This doesn't last much. Shortly after the flue like symptoms have past the rash breaks out. By rash we understand the appearance of tiny red bumps, mostly on the face, chest or abdomen. Spreading relatively quickly, they start to get bigger in a mater of hours forming a blister on a red base. A funny comparison has been found for them: dewdrops on rose petals. At first the fluid in the blisters is clear only to become cloudy during the period of several days and eventually forming a scab and falling of after another four. The number of blister also varies; while some pacients of chickenpox have only a few ones, other can have hundreds, on top of that being the fact that they each like crazy. Lasting seven to ten days, the disease causes the pacient to have several crops of blisters.
Another type of skin disease would be the shingles (Herpes Zoster) attack. Occurring nearly always on adults, we see it developing on one side of the human body and having three identifiable symptoms.
->Prodrome: a cluster of warning symptoms appearing before the outbreak of the infection.
->The infection begins.
->Postherpetic neuralgi a develops.
Pain is a very common symptom in herpes zoster, often appearing well before the appearance of the rash.
Predrome (pain) ? being the first symptom to appear in pacients, it appears to be located at the very site where the virus will be re-activating, making the pain be sharp, piercing, tearing or even similar to an electric shock. Besides pain, the pacient might feel that thatarea is itching or be unbearably sensitive to touch. Muscles aches and even fever are some of the extreme symptoms of the disease. Although usually lasting only a couple of days before the rash, cases have been known where the pain has lasted more ? lot more for weeks or even month.
Active shingles ? it marks the actual infection. 50% or 60% of cases occur on the trunk, the side of head being the next big area on witch it appears, making a very big risk the fact that the infection could spread to the mouth or eyes. First a rash appears only to become small fluid-filled blisters in about 12 hours witch eventually grow and become pus filled. The healing last as long as in chickenpox : up to 10 days.
Zoster Sine Herpete is the condition when the pain is not followed by the rash, this thing occurring more often in elder pacients, with symptoms very similar to the ones of chickenpox.
Earlier, shingles and chicken-pox were believed to be two very separate conditions caused by different agents. Today scientists have discovered they are both due to the infection with the varicella-zona zoster virus which is also responsible for the occurrence of herpes. The characteristic lesions for all conditions caused by the same particular virus are best described by the Greek word ?herpein? meaning ?to creep?.
Two separate conditions indicate the actual evolution of the virus inside the body; varicella stands for the primer infection and contact with the virus while herpes-zoster are shingles caused by the reactivation of the virus inside the organism.
Chicken-pox is an infecto-contagious condition and children with the disease can spread the virus by coughing or sneezing when they expel small droplets containing the virus. Today, children are usually vaccinated against the virus and develop mild symptoms if contacting the infection. The virus expelled by ill patients gets into the lungs of the new host and moves into the bloodstream causing the skin eruption. The typical lesions of the condition occur in 2-4 days after catching the virus; it is known as incubation period.
The herpes-zoster condition causes the virus to travel to the dorsal root of the ganglia as the virus has an important tropism on the nervous cells. The dorsal ganglia transmit the information to the brain cells, particularly the sensor information from the skin. When the virus gets inside the brain nervous cells, it can hide from the immune system and cannot be destroyed. The virus can sometimes hide for a life-time and persist in the body on the propriety called latency.
Within the latency period the virus can become active many times and cause the infection known as shingles. The herpes-zoster virus affects the nervous ganglia and all nervous connections and can even get to the spinal cord. The most frequently affected areas are face and trunk where the lesions are most likely to occur.
Scientists still search the answer to why the virus only reactivates in some infected subjects. The most exposed to the herpes condition are those suffering from AIDS due to the concomitant infection with Herpes-zoster and HIV-viruses. Immunodeficient persons due to cancers or to a treatment with immunosupressors are also most likely to suffer from herpes lesions. Patients who are aging themselves are also more exposed to the reactivation of the virus.
This particular virus is known to be part of a virus group with tropism on both human and animal organisms. All viruses from the group share similar symptoms and show latent periods that can last for months, years or a lifetime. The viruses implied are herpes simplex-virus, varicella-zoster-virus, Epstein-Barr-virus, Human herpes virus type 6 and Human herpes virus type 7.
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