Chicken pox is a highly contagious disease that is spread by droplets from an infected person via coughing or sneezing. Most children will catch chicken pox between the ages of two and eight. It is generally a mild disease in younger children, although it can be more severe in teenagers and adults.

Once a child has caught the chicken pox virus, it takes between 10 and 21 days to show. Symptoms begin with a high temperature, mild flu-like symptoms, nausea and loss of appetite. Shortly after, a rash will start to cover the child's body.

The chicken pox rash starts as small, itchy red spots. They normally form in crops and can be found on the face and scalp; behind the ears; under the arms; and on the chest, stomach, arms and legs. After approximately 12 hours, these spots will blister and become almost unbearably itchy.

Over the next one to four days, the blisters will start drying out and will form a crust. These crusts will gradually drop off over the next one to two weeks.

There is no treatment for chicken pox. However, infant paracetamol can be given to relieve a temperature and any associated aches and pains, and calamine lotion can be applied to the skin to help with the itching.

A child with chicken pox should also avoid childcare or school until the spots have dried up, which normally takes around 10 days. After that, the child will no longer be contagious.

Go back to Mumepedia: