Chickenpox: A Grotesque Disease

Chickenpox is a disease that has been thought of as a joke in today's generation. The truth is that chickenpox was no laughing matter in the past. This disease could kill people and is made a joke today because a cure has been found, so the disease is not as threatening.The history of chickenpox is amazingly interesting from how it was discovered to how a cure was found. All of these events in history have been marked and will be explained in great detail. The common name of this disease is known as Chickenpox, but the scientific name for this grotesque disease is Varicella. This name is not known to many, so that is one interesting fact. A question that not many people ask is what causes chickenpox? Chickenpox is a common childhood skin …show more content…
About 90% of non-immune household contacts of someone infected with chickenpox will contract it. Transmission of chickenpox occurs via infected respiratory tract secretions, respiratory droplets, and fluid from blisters. A person can be infectious about two days before blisters even appear, until the blisters crust over and no longer contain fluid. Symptoms that someone might have when they contract the disease is a low grade fever, fatigue, headache, and flu-like symptoms. As of today, there is still no known cure for chickenpox. Care for chickenpox usually includes use of pain medications and topical treatments for the itchy rash, blisters, and …show more content…
Immunisation can also reduce the spread of the disease in the population. Immunisation is possible for chickenpox when a child is still young. For children who have not had chickenpox, the vaccine can help protect them against serious complications associated with chickenpox and protect them from developing shingles later in life. Immunised children who get chickenpox generally have a much milder form of the disease. They have fewer skin lesions, a lower fever and recover more quickly. The first shot is a combined vaccine containing protection against measles, mumps, rubella and varicella (MMRV) given at 18 months of age. The second is the varicella vaccine (VV), which immunised only against chickenpox given in the 7th year of secondary school or at 12-13 years of age. As stated before, Chickenpox is not life threatening if the vaccine is given to children when they are needed. Adults who have gotten chickenpox before will most likely be affected more by the shingles virus that occurs later in life. It takes about 10-14 days to recover from the