Child with varicella disease.
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Chickenpox

Chickenpox, also spelled chicken pox, is the commonly known name for varicella disease, frequently but not exclusively contracted in childhood. more...

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Medicines

Chickenpox is caused by the varicella-zoster virus (VZV), also known as human herpes virus 3 (HHV-3), one of the eight herpes viruses known to affect humans. It is characterized by a fever, followed by itchy raw pox or open sores which heal without scarring.

Effects

Chickenpox has a two-week incubation period and is highly contagious by air transmission two days before symptoms appear. Therefore, chickenpox spreads quickly through schools and other places of close contact. Once someone has been infected with the disease, they usually develop protective immunity for life, and cannot get it again. As the disease is more severe if contracted by an adult, parents have been known to ensure their children become infected before adulthood.

The disease is rarely fatal: if it is involved in a fatality, the actual death is usually from opportunistic varicella pneumonia, and occurs more frequently in pregnant women. In the US, 55 percent of chickenpox deaths were in the over-20 age group, which is indeed at risk from the virus. Doctors advise pregnant women who come into contact with chickenpox should contact their doctor immediately, as the virus can cause serious problems for the foetus.

Later in life, viruses remaining in the nerves can develop into the painful disease, shingles, particularly in people with compromised immune systems, such as the elderly, and perhaps even those suffering sunburn. Some of these will develop zoster-associated pain or post-herpetic neuralgia, described usually as horrible or "excruciating". A chickenpox vaccine has been available since 1995, and is now required in some countries for children to be admitted into elementary school. In addition, effective medications (e.g., acyclovir) are available to treat chickenpox in healthy and immunocompromised persons. Symptomatic treatment: calamine lotion to ease itching and paracetamol to reduce fever, is widely used. It is contraindicated to use aspirin in children with chickenpox, as it can lead to Reye's syndrome.

History

One history of medicine book claims Giovanni Filippo (1510–1580) of Palermo gave the first description of varicella (chickenpox). Subsequently in the 1600s, an English physician named Richard Morton described what he thought was a mild form of smallpox as "chicken pox." Later, in 1767, a physician named William Heberden, also from England, was the first physician to clearly demonstrate that chickenpox was different from smallpox. However, it is believed the name chickenpox was commonly used in earlier centuries before doctors identified the disease.

There are many explanations offered for the origin of the name chickenpox:

  • the specks that appear looked as though the skin was picked by chickens,
  • the disease was named after chick peas, from a supposed resemblance of the seed to the lesions
  • Samuel Johnson suggested that the disease was "no very great danger," thus a "chicken" version of the pox
  • the term reflects a corruption of the Old English word, "giccin", which meant "itching"

As "pox" also means curse, in medieval times some believed it was a plague brought on to curse children by the use of black magic.

Read more at Wikipedia.org


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Trading chickenpox for shingles?
From Mothering, 11/1/05

New research suggests that the US government has unwittingly traded a typically mild childhood disease for a far more serious illness that affects adults. According to a case study conducted in California, the rate of shingles has increased dramatically since a 1995 governmental recommendation that all children receive the chickenpox vaccine. The research findings of Dr. Gary S. Goldman, published recently in the International Journal of Toxicology, support the theory that shingles, which is known to cause three times as many deaths and five times the number of hospitalizations as chickenpox, is naturally suppressed by occasional contact with chickenpox.

Dr. Goldman's findings corroborate other independent studies showing that the numbers of shingles cases in the US could continue to rise for 50 years. Of great concern is the fact that while death rates from chickenpox are very low, any deaths prevented by vaccination will be offset by deaths from the increasing incidence of shingles.

Further, in a peer-reviewed article published in Vaccine, Goldman points out that during a 50-year time span there would be an estimated 14.6 million (42 percent) additional shingles cases among adults under 50 years of age, presenting society with an additional medical cost burden of $4.1 billion. This translates to $80 million annually, using an estimated mean healthcare-provider cost of $280 per shingles case.

Both chickenpox and shingles are caused by the same varicella-zoster virus (VZV). Following a chickenpox infection, the virus becomes dormant, but can reactivate later, in adulthood, as shingles. It has long been known that adults receive natural immune boosting from contact with children infected with chickenpox. This continued contact helps prevent the reactivation of the virus in the form of shingles. Goldman's research also indicates that the effectiveness of the chickenpox vaccine itself is dependent on natural boosting. As natural cases of chickenpox decline, so will the effectiveness of the vaccine.

Dr. Gary S. Goldman, "Universal Varicella Vaccination: Efficacy Trends and Effect on Herpes Zoster," International Journal of Toxicology 24, no. 4 (July-August 2005): 205-213.

Dr. Gary S. Goldman, "Cost-benefit Analysis of Universal Varicella Vaccination in the U.S. Taking into Account the Closely Related Herpeszoster Epidemiology," Vaccine 23, no. 25 (9 May 2005): 3349-3355.

COPYRIGHT 2005 Mothering Magazine
COPYRIGHT 2005 Gale Group

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