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Chicken Pox
Local Practitioners
One of the most common childhood illnesses, chicken pox is also one of the most contagious. Exposure to the chicken pox virus, no matter how casual, usually results in infection. After the disease has been contracted, it incubates for a period of 10 days or so before symptoms appear. Those symptoms are well known by anyone who has been inflicted with this troublesome illness. Low grade fever and itchy, sometimes sore, splotches appearing on the skin. For some individuals, there may be only a few sores, for others, there may be hundreds. Three to seven days after they appear, the splotches will begin to fade. Within a week, the chicken pox is gone and the child can return to school and normal social activity.
Every effort should be made to stop the child from scratching the splotches while they are proliferating. As hard as it is to resist scratching, it allows the sores to become infected and increases the chances of scarring. Standard treatment for the symptoms of chicken pox consists of an aspirin substitute to lower the fever, and the applications of a lotion such as calamine or aloe vera to ease the itching.
The only good thing about chicken pox is that once you've had it, you're not likely to contract it again. Recovery provides immunization from the virus. For more information consult your doctor.
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