How Serious Is the Infection?
The vast majority of children with chickenpox recover completely without suffering any permanent disability. A few scars here and there are likely after recovering from chickenpox, but that is usually the extent of complication from the infection.
Fact
Chickenpox in pregnant women can cause birth defects, including blindness, brain damage, and permanent scarring of the skin or limbs for the fetus. The infection is especially dangerous during the first trimester of the pregnancy.
In rare circumstances, and especially in individuals with weakened immune systems (premature babies, people with AIDS), serious problems could result from chickenpox. Pneumonia is the most common complication, but brain infection (encephalitis) and life-threatening skin infection are also dangerous. Skin and soft tissue infection caused by chickenpox can often lead to amputation of the limbs. The difficult job of preventing these serious complications is that it is impossible to predict who may experience these life-threatening problems in advance. Many healthy children get extremely sick with chickenpox without having any risk factors. About a hundred people die from chickenpox infection each year in the United States.
Chickenpox is more serious if an adult catches it. Most babies who get chickenpox have rather mild symptoms. Adults account for more than half of the deaths from chickenpox.
