Chickenpox

Chickenpox is an acute contagious disease of children, characterized by feverishness and an eruption on the skin.

The disease occurs in epidemics affecting especially children under the age of ten years. The disease is caused by a certain type of virus. There is an incubation period of twelve to twenty days after infection, and then the child becomes feverish or has a slight shivering, or may feel more severely ill with vomiting and pains in the back and legs. Within 24 hours, an eruption consisting of red pimples which quickly change into vesicles (везикула, пухирець) filled with clear fluid appears on the back and abdomen, on the head, chest and forehead, and less frequently on the limbs. These vesicles during the second day may show a change of the contents to turbid, purulent fluid and within a day or two they burst, or at all events shrivel up, and become covered with brownish crusts. In a slight case there may be only eight or ten of these vesicles; in severe cases their number may amount to one hundred or even more. The small crusts dry up and fall off in two or three weeks and recovery is almost always complete.

The infected children must be isolated from other children until the last crust has disappeared. A patient need not be confined to bed unless the temperature is raised, but he/she should be kept in one room. If the rash appears on the face, care must be taken to prevent scratching. A simple dusting powder relieves the itchiness. In the majority of cases no other treatment beyond isolation is required. If children have been exposed to the risk of infection, it is usual to isolate them for a period of twenty days before allowing them to return to school.

Ex. 20. Give the summary of the following text: