How to Prevent a Chicken Pox Outbreak

According to the Directors of Health Promotion and Education (DHPE) website, around 4 million people in the United States suffer from chickenpox every year. This viral disease, which is characterized by extremely itchy blisters all over the skin, is highly contagious. After someone has been infected, she carries the virus for the rest of her life, but cannot get chickenpox twice. As chickenpox is contagious before the blisters even appear, preventing an outbreak of chickenpox can be difficult.

Instructions

• 1

  Stay at home from the time you first notice symptoms of chickenpox until your blisters form scabs, which normally happens around five days after they first appear. At this point, they are no longer contagious. If it is your child who has chickenpox, keep them out of school or day care until this point.

• 2

  Stop visitors from coming to your home while you or a family member has chickenpox. The virus can be spread through the air -- from coughing and sneezing -- as well as through direct contact with the infected person. According to the DHPE, If someone who has not had chickenpox before is exposed to the disease, he has a 70 to 80 percent likelihood of catching it. Keep contact with a family member who has not already has chickenpox to an absolute minimum; if you suspect that he also is showing early symptoms of chickenpox, such as a fever, err on the side of caution and keep him at home too. Because chickenpox is contagious a couple of days before the blisters appear, the best way to avoid an outbreak is to act quickly.

• 3

  Give your child the chickenpox vaccine to protect her against the disease. Children who have not had chickenpox can receive the vaccine up to 13 years of age; the American Academy of Family Physicians recommends that all children have the vaccine at 12 to 18 months old. If you have not had chickenpox yourself, you may also have the vaccine, which gives immunity to up to 90 percent of those who receive it.