Chickenpox disease

Chickenpox is a highly contagious viral infection characterized by fever, itching and fluid-filled blisters. The disease is spread by droplet infection, and children under 10 are normally affected. Adults who have not had the disease in their childhood can also be affected, but this is less common and they often become very ill.

What is chicken pox?

Chickenpox is a viral disease caused by the Varicella-Zoster virus. Typical characteristics of the disease are fever, an itchy rash and blisters filled with fluid. Chickenpox is one of the most common childhood diseases, and usually affects children under 10 years of age.

Chickenpox is a highly contagious disease, and is easily spread via droplet transmission. You are contagious from 2 days before the outbreak, as long as new rashes appear, and right up to the formation of crusts on the rashes and the fluid-filled blisters. This occurs after approx. 5 days.

The virus is transmitted via both droplet transmission and contact transmission. Droplet infection means that the virus is found in the patient's saliva, and is transmitted via small droplets of saliva that are spread out when you cough and sneeze. Contact infection means that the virus can be transmitted by direct contact with the virus on the sick person. The blisters themselves are a major source of infection, as the fluid inside the blisters contains large amounts of virus. As a rule, one becomes infected by the virus finding its way from saliva or the liquid in the blisters and into the body via the mucous membranes in the respiratory tract.