Definition of Chicken Pox

Chicken pox is caused by the virus varicella zoster, which also causes shingles. Extremely contagious, chicken pox most often occurs in young children but also can infect older children and adults.

Significance

• Chicken pox once affected almost 4 million children in the United States every year, but the chicken pox vaccine has reduced this number greatly.

Occurrence

• Usually chicken pox affects an individual only once, but the virus can remain in the body permanently and reemerge as shingles in times of stress.

Symptoms

• Chicken pox symptoms are flu-like and accompanied by a red, itchy rash. The rash begins as small, pimple-like bumps that develop into blisters.

Contagiousness

• The rash appears 10 to 21 days after infection, but contagiousness starts about two days beforehand and lasts until all of the spots crust over.

Vaccination

• According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the chicken pox vaccine provides complete protection against the virus in almost 90 percent of children who receive it. Symptoms are dramatically reduced in the remaining 10 percent.