Chickenpox Infection
Varicella is the medical term for chickenpox. The most common infection caused by the chickenpox virus is chickenpox, but the same virus can also cause shingles. Shingles is a painful sore on the face or body that erupts in mostly older individuals.
Fact
Ten to twenty percent of people who recover from chickenpox can develop shingles later in life. While most people experience shingles as older adults, shingles can flare up at any age, including during childhood.
The chickenpox virus is a close relative of the herpes virus that causes genital herpes in humans. Just like the herpes virus, the chickenpox virus incorporates its own DNA into your DNA and literally becomes a part of you after an infection. Even after your child recovers from the visible signs of chickenpox, the virus has already become part of your child, and it never leaves the body for the rest of your child's life. This is the reason why the chickenpox virus can remain dormant in the body for decades and reactivate later in life to manifest itself as shingles.
Essential
Even though pneumonia is a relatively uncommon complication of chickenpox, it is impossible to predict which child is going to come down with pneumonia with chickenpox. Some healthy children experience serious problems with chickenpox infection even though they have strong immune systems.
Chickenpox infection can be so mild in young children that it may not be recognized at the time of infection. Some adults who do not recall ever having chickenpox have an antibody against the virus. This means that these individuals probably had a very mild case of chickenpox when they were young, and the infection came and went unnoticed.
Symptoms of the Chickenpox Infection
Symptoms of a chickenpox infection include:
Red, itchy rash (may initially look like bug bites or pimples)
Small liquid-filled blisters that break and crust over
Fever
Mild headache
Irritability
Runny nose
Sore throat
Loss of appetite or abdominal pain
Dry cough
Pneumonia (rare)
