Chickenpox
Chickenpox
Classification and external resources
Child with varicella disease
ICD-10
B01.
ICD-9
052
DiseasesDB
29118
MedlinePlus 001592
eMedicine
ped/2385 derm/74, emerg/367
MeSH
C02.256.466.175
Chickenpox or chicken pox is a highly con-
tagious illness caused by primary infection
with varicella zoster virus (VZV). It generally
starts with a vesicular skin rash appearing in
two or three waves, mainly on the body and
head rather than the hands and becoming
itchy raw pockmarks, small open sores which
heal mostly without scarring.
Chickenpox has an incubation period of 10
to 21 days, and is spread easily through
coughs or sneezes of
ill
individuals, or
through direct contact with secretions from
the rash. Following primary infection there is
usually lifelong protective immunity from fur-
ther episodes of chickenpox.
Chickenpox is rarely fatal, although it is
generally more severe in adults than in chil-
dren. Pregnant women and those with a sup-
pressed immune system are at highest risk of
serious complications. The most common late
complication of chicken pox is shingles,
caused by reactivation of the varicella zoster
virus decades after the initial episode of
chickenpox.
Chickenpox has been observed in nonhu-
man primates, including chimpanzees [1] and
gorillas.[2]
Signs and symptoms
Chickenpox is a highly infectious disease that
spreads from person to person by direct con-
tact or by air from an infected person’s
coughing or sneezing. Touching the fluid
from a chickenpox blister can also spread the
disease. A person with chickenpox is infec-
tious from one to five days before the rash
appears.[3] The contagious period continues
until all blisters have formed scabs, which
may take 5 to 10 days.[4] It takes from 10 to
21 days after contact with an infected person
for someone to develop chickenpox.[5]
The chicken pox lesions (blisters) start as
a two to four millimeter red papule which de-
velops an irregular outline (a rose petal). A
thin-walled, clear vesicle (dew drop) develops
on top of the area of re