Chicken pox, also known as in medical terms, varicella consists of a rash all over your body. This rash then soon turns into blisters and then scabs. These blisters are very itchy, but they must not be scratched under any circumstance, because it may lead to infection. Another chicken pox symptom that must be controlled is the fever. Although, a chicken pox patient will not suffer from a very high fever, nonetheless it must be reduced. For the itching sensation that chicken pox gives you, warm baths using baking soda are recommended. You may also use green peas or even honey, to relieve your child of that terrible itching sensation that chicken pox gives. Cool compresses or even cool baths will actually do you a world of good when suffering from chicken pox.
As many of you know, chicken pox is a children' s disease, that only affects a small number of adults. So, because it affects children, aspirin should under no circumstances, be used in children that suffer from chicken pox. The reason is very simple, aspirin increase the risk of developing Reye' s symdrom, which is life- threatening. So, for the fever that is caused by chicken pox or any other conditions that affect children, use ipubrofen instead. Also make sure that you cut your child' s fingernails very short, or better yet use some gloves, because he/ she may damage the skin from scratching. If the chicken pox rash affects your child' s mouth and somehow lesions happen, you might want to use some salt water, for your child' s comfort. Furthermore, try to give your child as many cold fluids as you can and also keep him/ her away from any spicy food. This will prevent any further damage of the mouth because of the chicken pox rash.
Because the blisters that are cause by chicken pox are filled with fluid, the risk of developing an infection is very great. So make sure that your child washes his/ her hands at least three times every day. Also try to keep the skin affected by chicken pox as clean as possible. Infections in children suffering from chicken pox are not very sever, but there is always the risk of a big infection.
To prevent chicken pox, you can have your child vaccinated. Actually, nowadays doctors encourage vaccination against chicken pox.
Since the year 1995, a vaccine against chicken pox is available and many of the doctors recommend it, if not all. Children under one year old can not receive the vaccine against chicken pox. What this vaccine does is to prevent children from developing a very serious chicken pox case. That is to say that the children who have received the vaccine against chicken pox will still go on to develop this disease, but it will be a much milder form. This will mostly happen to almost 95 percent of all chicken pox patients that have received the vaccine. Furthermore, this vaccine has little side effects that can be tolerated very well by the child. However, if your child is allergic to gelatin, the vaccine against chicken pox is not recommended.
Because chicken pox is contagious, when your child is suffering from this condition, the best thing to do is keep him/ her home for a while. The first symptoms that you will see in your child when he/ she has caught the chicken pox virus are some normal flu- like symptoms. Later, the rash will appear and then the blisters, that are characteristic for chicken pox. Another thing that is not very good about chicken pox is that children are more contagious just a few days before the chicken pox rash appears on their bodies. At that time, most of the parents do bot know that their child has chicken pox.
When your child has chicken pox, there are two main things that you should do. One is to relive the itching of the rash, thing that is very normal in chicken pox cases and the other is to keep your child from developing any skin infections. Special lotions, baths with oatmeal or baking soda are very useful in chicken pox cases. Because the rash turns into blisters filled with fluid, that in turn crust and fall off, you must be very careful and keep a good hygiene of your child. When suffering from chicken pox, he/ she might break those blisters and eventually this could lead to infections.
There are also other complications to chicken pox, but they are rare.