Hygiene
During a child’s illness, it is necessary to ensure the cleanliness of bed and underwear. It is better to choose clothes from natural fabrics so as not to provoke itching during illness.
The child's hands should be clean and nails trimmed short to prevent the spread of infection by accidentally scratching the papules.
Many parents are interested in the question of whether it is possible to swim while sick. The issue is controversial and still causes controversy in the medical community. Some experts believe that you can take water procedures in warm water.
The main manifestation of chickenpox is a characteristic rash. Its main feature, which makes it possible to distinguish rashes from other infections, is called polymorphism. This term refers to the variety of elements of a rash on a child’s skin at one time (next to the healing crusty rashes, “fresh” ones appear). For most children, the rash is very itchy.
Other signs of chickenpox in a child:
- Increased body temperature.
- Muscle soreness.
- Weakness.
- Headache.
- Sleep disturbance.
- Sore throat.
- Restless behavior.
- Decreased appetite.
Depending on the pathological process that occurs in the skin during chickenpox, the rash is represented by the following elements, replacing each other:
- Stains. Their appearance is due to local expansion of capillaries under the influence of the virus. These are small pink spots from 2 to 4 mm in diameter.
- Papules. They appear after a few hours at the site of the spots due to serous edema and look like slightly raised reddish formations, reminiscent of insect bites in appearance.
- Vesicles. Their formation in place of papules is associated with detachment of the epidermis. Such bubbles are single-chambered and surrounded by a red “rim.” Inside there is a clear liquid that soon becomes cloudy.
- Sores. They form at the site of burst bubbles and quickly become crusty. The skin heals and the crusts fall off within two to three weeks.
In these photos of the rash you can see all these elements:
- temperature above 38˚С. Please note that sometimes the temperature rises to 40˚C. This is not a complication of the disease, but only a feature of the reactivity of the immune system of a sick person. However, in some cases the temperature throughout the entire illness can be 37 °C;
- The appearance of the rash varies in stages. Stages of the rash - spot-bubble-appearance of crusts. The rash appears on the child's entire body, except the palms and feet. Chickenpox is also characterized by a rash on the scalp;
- wave-like appearance of the rash, when after the appearance of the rash there is a short-term lull.
How and how long do adults get chickenpox: symptoms
The vast majority of the disease occurs in children and adolescents. It is easy and does not require complex treatment. In adults, it’s the opposite: the symptoms are extremely difficult to tolerate, and serious complications often occur. Even cases of death have been recorded.
So how does chickenpox go away in adults? The chickenpox virus is transmitted by airborne droplets. That is, there is a high probability of infection even after a normal conversation with a patient. Moreover, the disease can be transmitted both from a baby and from an adult with shingles - chickenpox and shingles have the same pathogen.
How many days should you stay home if you have chickenpox?
Chickenpox is a common and highly contagious childhood disease.
This infection is most often detected in children 2-7 years of age in a mild form, although sometimes infants, adolescents, and adults also suffer from chickenpox, and chickenpox is much more severe. The causative agent of this disease, although unstable outside the human body, is capable of flying with particles of mucus several tens of meters, and susceptibility to it reaches 90-100%. That is why, when chickenpox is discovered in a children's group, a quarantine is declared, and sick children are isolated. At the same time, parents are wondering whether such measures are necessary, whether it is really impossible for sick people to have contact with healthy people, and how long do they spend sick leave with chickenpox?
How to speed up recovery
Having determined how many people suffer from chickenpox on average, let’s try to find out whether it is possible to make the disease go away faster. According to doctors, in order to speed up recovery, it is enough to:
- Adjust the patient’s diet by including a large amount of vegetables, fruits, fruit drinks in the diet and excluding spicy, too salty, fried and fatty foods.
- Change bedding and underwear used by a sick person daily.
- Make sure that the patient does not get too cold, sweat, or scratch the rash.
- Dress sick children in clothes with long legs and sleeves.
- Treat the patient's pockmarks with disinfectant solutions every day.
- Take antipruritic, antipyretic, antiviral and antihistamine drugs for a disease that occurs in a complicated form.
- Make sure that the sick person maintains bed rest for 6-8 days from the day the first symptoms of the pathological process appear.
- Once every 4 hours, carry out a light wet cleaning of the room occupied by the patient.
How many days will it take to recover from chickenpox if the above conditions are met? This depends on the form of the disease, the age of the patient and the state of his immune system. In most cases, following these recommendations allows you to shorten the active stage of the disease by 3-5 days. In cases where home treatment does not bring the expected results, inpatient therapy may be necessary.
Prevention of chickenpox in children.
You can eliminate the risk factor of chickenpox infection, as well as the occurrence of pathological abnormalities, with the help of doctors’ recommendations.
It makes no sense to isolate a potentially healthy child, because the incubation period of the disease is asymptomatic. Therefore, it is not possible to identify whether a person is infected or not. A number of established measures must be followed to reduce the risk of chickenpox:
- carry out annual vaccination against chickenpox;
- carry out quartzing;
- ventilate the room daily and carry out wet cleaning;
- balance the diet, prioritizing protein foods;
- comply with all hygiene standards;
- If possible, reduce contact with an infected person.
Among the methods of emergency prevention, the introduction of an antiviral vaccine is noted.
Complications of the virus
How long chickenpox lasts in adults largely depends on following your doctor’s recommendations. If the patient does not adhere to bed rest, ignores taking medications, and constantly scratches the rash, the easiest of the complications will be the addition of a secondary infection. You can recognize it by the presence of pus in the pustules; the ulcers will become inflamed. In place of the pustules, necrosis forms and, ultimately, the skin becomes covered with scars.
Due to intoxication of the body during smallpox, the liver may be damaged. If the whites of an infected person's eyes turn yellow, go to the hospital immediately. A patient of retirement age may exhibit cardiovascular pathologies and pneumonia. In people with bad habits, untimely therapy can cause a cyst in the brain, meningitis and encephalitis. These diseases will lead to disability or death without timely treatment.
Separately, I would like to note that during the acute course of the disease, patients should reduce physical activity and eye strain. It is vision pathologies that are the most common complication in people after 40 years of age.
Now you know how many days the chickenpox quarantine lasts in adults and how long adults suffer from chickenpox. Such awareness will allow you to start treatment in a timely manner, protect your loved ones from infection and avoid most complications. There has been a special vaccine against chickenpox in the world for a long time.
Contagious period
If your child has chickenpox, you can check with your doctor for how long he should be isolated from the group at home. A specialist knows exactly how long chickenpox lasts in children. We can say that the child will be contagious for the entire time, how many days does chickenpox last? It is believed that on the sixth day after the rash has completely stopped, the baby is completely non-contagious and can visit the children's group. By this point, the body has fully developed antibodies to the virus and the disease is completely defeated.
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It is important to add how many days the quarantine lasts in a preschool institution in the event of one of its members contracting chickenpox. Since in each specific case it is impossible to say exactly how long children suffer from chickenpox, because this period ranges from 4-13 days, the quarantine period in preschool children is at least 14 days.
Attention! When determining the period of contagiousness of a child, one should not forget that it is important not only how many people have chickenpox, but also when the infection occurred, because throughout the incubation period the baby will already be contagious.
Duration of the disease depending on the form of the course
Preschoolers, teenagers, and newborns can get chickenpox. When it turns out that a child has a viral infection, many parents are interested in how many days chickenpox lasts in children and how long the high temperature lasts.
The duration of the disease depends on individual characteristics. Additional factors include:
- current immune status;
- age (in preschool and primary school age the disease is more easily tolerated);
- whether the child was vaccinated against chickenpox;
- the addition of a secondary infection (ARVI) and the development of complications against the background of chickenpox such as otitis media, stomatitis, bronchitis, pneumonia, meningitis, etc.
Duration of rash in children
How many days does chickenpox last in children? The average duration is 5-8 days. Depending on the severity, the rash can last up to 10 days. In a mild form, which is called rudimentary, the rash remains on the body for no longer than 2-3 days. Parents may not even realize that their child has had chickenpox.
After acne stops appearing, the recovery period begins. The temperature decreases, the general condition improves. The baby regains his appetite and is on the mend
What is quarantine and why is it needed?
Chicken pox is one of the most common diseases in children aged 1 to 7 years. Those children who attend kindergartens are most susceptible to the disease. Since the disease is spread by airborne droplets, one sick child can infect all preschool children in his group, if they have not been sick before. Therefore, kindergartens are introducing a quarantine regime.
Quarantine is a set of activities carried out by the management of a kindergarten, school, hospital in order to prevent the spread of an infectious disease and eliminate its source.
As soon as the first child in a kindergarten group falls ill, the teachers and management of the preschool institution must be notified. The garden's medical worker introduces a quarantine regime. For chickenpox it is 21 days. This means that if after 21 days there are no new cases of chickenpox, the quarantine will be lifted. If there are new cases, the quarantine will be extended for another 21 days each time.
How many days after chickenpox can you go to kindergarten?
During the quarantine period, the group in the kindergarten lives a normal life, but with some peculiarities. A medical worker is required to examine all children every day and measure their temperature. This is done to ensure timely detection of new cases of chickenpox. Children in quarantine usually do not take part in general activities and do not go to the gym, swimming pool or music room.
How long does the temperature last
During the death of viral particles, pyrogen substances are produced in the body, which provoke an increase in temperature. During mass rashes, a huge amount of these elements enters the bloodstream.
The febrile state is noted in waves - 2-3 times. The increase in temperature during chickenpox in men and women coincides with the time of formation of the rash on the body. The mercury strip can reach 40ͦ. The indicators depend on the severity of the disease.
The temperature with chickenpox in adults lasts no less than 3 days and no more than 9. If the indicators do not decrease for more than 10 days, then this indicates the addition of complications.
As you can see, adults suffer more severely from the disease. This is especially true for those whose immunity is severely weakened. Therefore, doctors recommend that parents not limit the communication of preschool and primary school children with children who have chickenpox. This will avoid difficulties with transmission of infection in adult life.
How long do the fever and itching last?
The main signs of chickenpox are a rash and fever. There are several main factors that influence how many days the baby will need to fully recover:
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- age;
- functioning of the immune system;
- form of the disease.
On average, the rash lasts 4-12 days from the moment the first pink spots appear. The rash on the patient’s body has 4 main stages and appears in the form of spots, blisters, wet wounds and crusts that complete this cycle.
At the stage of transition of blisters into wet wounds, toddlers experience severe itching. Temperature changes often occur before the rash appears. Its indicators directly depend on the form of the disease. On average, the temperature lasts from 3 to 10 days, but with chickenpox these figures can be considered conditional.
Life after chickenpox: when can I go to kindergarten?
Definitely, it is impossible to bring a child in quarantine into the children's group until he has fully recovered. The question here is not only about the moment of absence of contagion, which the doctor will indicate to you. Usually this period begins on the fifth day from the date of the appearance of the last element of the rash. And the period from the onset of the disease is about two weeks.
The problem of constant child illnesses during kindergarten worries many parents. The difficulty of adapting the body to the environment depends on the baby’s immune system. And she definitely needs time to recover from any viral illness.
Therefore, after chickenpox, we advise you to leave your baby at home for another 1-2 weeks. This will maximize your health and renew your strength for a normal return to the team.
How many days does chickenpox last for an adult?
The duration of the disease in adults depends on the form of chickenpox. In a milder form, the adult’s condition is satisfactory, body temperature rises to 38 and lasts no more than 2–3 days. The rash lasts no more than 3–4 days, and chickenpox completely disappears in 7–8 days.
With moderate chickenpox, the duration of the disease can be from 9 to 14 days. The rash is usually severe, spreads to the mucous tissues (the rash can be localized on the genitals and mouth), the patient experiences severe itching, the temperature is high, and lasts from 3 to 4 days.
Severe chickenpox may require hospitalization. This form is characterized by profuse rashes, severe itching and high fever. The illness can last up to 30 days or 1 month.
Chickenpox is treated for 7–10 days from the onset of the disease. If after 5 days there is no improvement, a cough appears, and the rash gets worse, then you should consult a doctor.
How long does chickenpox last?
It is impossible to say exactly how many days people suffer from chickenpox. The duration of the disease in a particular child depends on many factors, for example, on the state of his health, age, the presence of chronic pathologies, the activity of the virus and many others.
In general, the following periods can be distinguished during chickenpox:
- Incubation. It begins from the moment of infection and ends with the first clinical symptoms of the disease. During such a period, the average duration of which in children is 2 weeks (the minimum period is 7 days and the maximum is 21 days), the child has no symptoms of infection and it is impossible to determine that he has already begun to have chickenpox.
- Premonitory. This is the name for a short period (1-2 days) during which the child feels unwell, but there is still no rash, so it is not yet possible to diagnose chickenpox.
- Rashes. During this period, the disease manifests itself especially actively, and the child is very contagious to others. The rash may appear on the skin only once, but more often it occurs in “waves” and lasts for 2-9 days.
- Get well. This period of illness begins from the moment the last “fresh” blisters appear on the skin. After 5 days, the child is no longer considered infectious. The crusted rash lasts on the body for 1-2 weeks, after which the crusts fall off and the skin heals completely.
As you can see, the duration of each period may be different. In a mild form, after a short prodromal period, several blisters appear on the same day in a child and within 1-2 days they become crusted, that is, the disease lasts about 7-8 days in total. In severe cases and complications, the disease can drag on for several weeks.
Nature and duration of chickenpox rash
Chickenpox rashes last from two weeks to one month in children. This period characterizes the period of time from the moment the first stain appears until the last crust falls off. The vesicle dries out in two days, maximum in three days. Instead, a dark brown crust remains and lasts up to 2-3 weeks.
How long the rash lasts for chickenpox in children depends on the health status of the individual child. In rare cases, when immunity is reduced, the course of the disease is possible with the development of bullous, gangrenous forms, which have complications:
- lymphadenitis;
- pyoderma;
- myocarditis;
- encephalitis;
The course of the disease is often mild. Each case of the disease must proceed under the supervision of a doctor. If necessary, the specialist will prescribe appropriate treatment and notice the developing complication in time.
Numbers
We would like to draw your attention to the fact that if you have caught this infection, it does not matter how much chickenpox comes out. It is really important to consult a specialist for a recommendation for treatment that will significantly ease the course of the disease and speed up the recovery process.
How long does it take for chickenpox to last? If we take the primary formations as the starting point, and the last foci of exanthema as the ending point, then in typical forms of the disease the rash will end on days 4-12.
We add that with atypical forms of chickenpox, rashes may not be observed at all. With aggressive atypical forms of infection, the rash can be in large quantities and have different localizations. And on top of everything else, these forms differ in the appearance of the elements of the rash (the liquid may be mixed with pus or blood). Under such circumstances, the rash lasts much longer. But these forms are rare these days.