Chickenpox (chickenpox) is an acute viral disease that manifests itself in the form of rashes-bubbles throughout the body and is transmitted, as a rule, by airborne droplets.
Chickenpox in children. Symptoms
The photo you see in front of you clearly demonstrates the main symptom of this unattractive disease. Chickenpox is most often affected by preschoolers or younger schoolchildren. But sometimes it occurs in adults. Children carry the disease much milder and easier. The incubation period of the disease can last from one week to three. The first signs of the disease are fever, drowsiness, weakness, and headache. Adults often think that a child has acute respiratory infections. After a few days, the patient appears red spots - first on the face, and then throughout the body, even on the mucous membrane of the eyes, mouth, genitals. This is how chickenpox develops in children. A symptom that appears as a rash will be the main manifestation of the disease. Over time, spots turn into constantly itchy vesicles with fluid. In no case can they be torn apart, because this will lead to suppuration, and after recovery, ugly scars will remain on the body. If you do not touch the bubbles, the crust formed on them will soon disappear and there will be no trace on the skin.
Source of disease
You can get chickenpox from a sick person, even if he has not yet had a rash on his body, and there are only primary symptoms. Therefore, this disease is very insidious, it is almost impossible to protect healthy children from it. Not surprisingly, in schools and kindergartens, chickenpox often appears in the form of outbreaks in children. A symptom confirming its presence will not take long. Just a few days later, the baby's face becomes covered with a rash. It ceases to be a source of infection only when new red spots and bubbles cease to appear in it. A recovered child develops a lifelong immunity to this disease.
Course of the disease
The acute period in chickenpox lasts no more than 4 days. A new rash still appears, but the temperature begins to subside. This means that chickenpox in children is on the decline. The symptom confirming the decline of the disease is that the patient during this period can see new red spots, vesicles, and dried crusts that are about to disappear. Usually they disappear a week or two after the appearance.
How to treat chickenpox?
In childhood, the disease is tolerated quite easily. The child is at home treatment, following the instructions of the doctor. He needs to provide care and proper nutrition. The food should be vitamin and fractional, and it is necessary to eat often, in small portions, avoiding heavy meat food. The patient’s clothing and skin should be kept clean and tidy, and the nails should be cut short to protect against a new infection. Bubbles are usually lubricated with a brilliant green solution to avoid suppuration, or a weak solution of potassium permanganate. To eliminate skin itching, you can lubricate problem areas with boiled water diluted with vinegar in equal parts, and sprinkle with talcum powder. It is advisable not to wet the child’s body, but he should drink plenty of fluids. Do not use alcohol to lubricate the rash.
To avoid undesirable consequences, parents should be well versed in what chickenpox in children is (symptoms). Komarovsky, a well-known pediatric doctor and a favorite of young mothers, believes that it is useless to use zelenka with chickenpox. The ugly appearance of the face of a small patient depresses him too much and negatively affects the weak child psyche. And the painted face will only let parents know whether a new rash appears on it, whether chickenpox in children has reached its peak. Symptoms - the presence of a rash on the patient’s body, smeared with green, and the absence of new (red) rashes - indicate that the child is at the stage of recovery and is no longer contagious.
Complications of the disease
In some children, after an illness, purulent rashes may appear. In such cases, antibiotics are indispensable. The chickenpox virus can infect the heart, brain, liver, kidneys, eyes and joints, but this is very rare. If any disturbances in the activity of these organs appear, you must consult a specialist and not start the disease.