Chickenpox (or varicella).

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Chickenpox

• Chickenpox is an acute infectious disease characterized by a benign course, moderate fever, the appearance of small bubbles with transparent contents on the skin and mucous membranes.

The virus enters the body through the mucous membranes of the upper respiratory tract and invades the epithelial cells of the mucous membrane. Then the virus penetrates into the blood and is fixed in the skin, causing a pathological process in its surface layer: limited expansion of capillaries (spot), serous edema (papule), detachment of the epidermis (vesicle).

• Due to the multiplication of the virus and the allergic response of the body, fever and other general nonspecific manifestations of infection occur. After the disease, there is a persistent immunity.

• Predominant localization of skin rash in natural (left) and chicken pox (right)

• Treatment does not provide a full guarantee of getting rid of the Varicella Zoster virus, in 10-20% of those who have been ill, the virus remains in the nerve ganglia for life and subsequently causes Herpes zoster at an older age, otherwise called shingles.

The main purpose of treatment of chickenpox is to prevent the development of complications. Complex treatment is the most effective and includes: regimen, diet, medication, as well as methods of non-drug treatment (aeration of the room, hygiene measures, physical temperature reduction). Bed rest should be observed throughout the feverish period.

The method of specific prevention is vaccination. The vaccine was developed by Michiaki Takahashi in 1974 in Japan. The resulting vaccine strain was named Oka (in honor of the boy from whose vesicles the virus was isolated from the varicella rash). The first vaccine was called "Okavax". Subsequently, Japanese developers transferred the Oka strain to Merck pharmaceutical companies & Co and GlaxoSmithKline, who modified the strain and developed two more vaccines: Varivax and Varilrix.

• Since chickenpox is more severe in adults than in children, some parents deliberately bring their children to a family with a chickenpox child so that they get sick in childhood. It's called a "wind party." This practice was especially widespread before the chicken pox vaccine began to be used in the United States in 1995. Doctors state that it is safer for children to receive a vaccine that contains a weakened form of the virus, rather than a disease that can be fatal. In 2019, wind parties also began to gain popularity in Russia.

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