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Chickenpox
How do you tell if you or your child has chickenpox? Dr Chris Brown has the answers
What is it?Chicken pox is an infectious illness caused by the virus varicella zoster. It occurs most commonly in children, but can also affect adults if they didn't have chickenpox in childhood.
What are the symptoms?
Most people know about the rash, but chicken pox starts just like a common cold. Runny nose, sneezing, cough and fever are typical first symptoms of chicken pox. About three to five days later the rash shows up, looking like dots ranging from 0.5 to 1cm. Within each of these dots is a small fluid-filled blister that may pop over the course of the following days. The lesions may be painful or itchy, or not be bothersome at all. They may be found anywhere on the skin, in the mouth, within the vaginal area and even unseen within the penis, which may make it painful to urinate. A typical place for concentration is around the bathing-trunks area.
What can/should be done at home
Unfortunately, there isn't much that can be done to completely eliminate the symptoms once a person is infected with chicken pox. Therefore, treatment is geared to alleviating the pain, itch and fever.
Fever: Aspirin is not recommended for children under 16 years old. This is because of a rare but serious condition called Reye's Syndrome, which has been linked to the use of aspirin in feverish viral illnesses in children. Paracetamol or Ibuprofen based drugs should be the only medication used to treat fever during this illness ? and it is fine to use the least expensive brand available. Be sure to give the proper dose for the age and weight of your child.
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