An Overview of Chickenpox

Most people contract chickenpox (also called varicella zoster virus) during childhood. It is spread through coughing, sneezing, direct contact with infected skin lesions, and also by aerosolization of infectious particles. ⁴

Children younger than adolescent age tend not to get the more severe symptoms of the disease, though they can. Adolescents and adults are more likely to suffer from serious and possibly fatal complications of the disease. ⁴

Milder and more common symptoms of chicken pox include: mild fever; red, itchy bumps and lesions all over the body; coughing; and sneezing. ⁴ The blisters appear over a three-to-five day period then crust over the next seven to ten days. ²

Severe symptoms and complications from chickenpox may include: bacterial infection of the skin; swelling of the brain; febrile seizures (seizures caused by high fever); and pneumonia. ⁴

There is a vaccine for chickenpox, which generally causes the condition to be less severe when it is contracted. In many cases (approximately 8-9 out of 10) people who have been vaccinated will not contract the disease at all if exposed to it. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) warns that the chickenpox vaccine may also cause febrile seizures in children ages 12 to 47 months of age. While no study was done on the incidence in febrile seizures in older children, the CDC estimates that the risk for febrile seizures with the vaccine in the same in older children. ¹

The risk for febrile seizures associated with the vaccine (either the varicella vaccine or the MMRV (measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella vaccine) according to the CDC is: "...for every 10,000 children who get the MMR and varicella vaccines for their first vaccinations when they are 12-23 months old, about 4 will have a febrile seizure during the 5-12 days following vaccination...children who get the MMRV vaccine for their first vaccinations when they are 12-23 months old are about twice as likely to have a febrile seizure... [when] compared with those who get the MMR and varicella vaccines at the same doctor visit." ¹

Varicella zoster virus also causes shingles, an infectious, itchy skin rash. Shingles may be developed many years after chickenpox, as the varicella zoster virus lies inactive in your nerve tissue near the spinal cord and brain. It can reactivate, resulting in a shingles infection. ³

Sources:

¹Two Options for Protecting Your Child Against Measles, Mumps, Rubella, and Varicella,
http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd-vac/combo-vaccines/mmrv/vacopt-factsheet-parent.htm
² Chickenpox (Varicella), http://www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/c/9339/9704.html#duration
³Shingles, http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/shingles/DS00098
⁴Varicella (Chickenpox) In Short, http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd-vac/varicella/in-short-adult.htm