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There is an opinion that the earlier you get chickenpox, the less likely there are subsequent complications and residual scars. Therefore, some mothers specifically “go to visit” their friends, whose babies have just become covered with characteristic red spots, in order to infect their children. Forums for young parents are full of questions: “Should I deliberately infect my child with chickenpox before kindergarten?” Such decisions are justified by the fact that at three years old the baby will go to kindergarten, and the mother will go to work, and the baby will definitely get sick, and the mother will need to take sick leave only after getting a new job. So I want the little ones to acquire immunity to this disease within a year or two.

In fact, most experts (and experienced mothers) are inclined to believe that this disease is best tolerated in “kindergarten age,” or at most in the first grades of school. Then you can explain to the child that the spots cannot be scratched, otherwise scars will remain. A one-year-old baby is not very worried about her future appearance, as long as she doesn’t itch so much. If you catch chickenpox at a later age, you can run into complications (not to mention the unsightly marks that can remain on a teenager and an adult).

The incubation period of the disease lasts from one to three weeks. Chickenpox in children usually occurs without any symptoms. During this period, adults may experience a slight increase in temperature, mild malaise, headaches, and sometimes nausea and vomiting. All appear after the rash, which often occurs unexpectedly. Almost simultaneously with the rash, all signs of intoxication of the body appear. It should be noted that adults suffer from chickenpox much more severely than children - their intoxication is more pronounced, and the temperature sometimes reaches critical levels.

We all know that under no circumstances should we scratch the red spots that appear, but still our “treacherous” children can hide from our eyes in order to alleviate their suffering at least a little. You need to try to distract them from this activity by reading a book or not very active games. Otherwise, the rashes may fester, and you will have to take antibiotics, which, as we know, can worsen the future health of the baby.

Bed rest, diet and changing clothes daily will help relieve symptoms

Don’t forget to give your baby anti-allergy medications and lubricate with brilliant green (it dries and relieves itching a little), and give some kind of immuno-strengthening drug. Typically performed in children on an outpatient basis. In its normal course, chickenpox in children does not require any treatment. The main thing is hygiene and good care.

Although the symptoms of chickenpox are not so unbearable for a child, it is still advisable to maintain bed rest during the illness. She has no specific treatment. There is no cure for it. But it is possible to minimize the discomfort caused by this disease. In order to prevent new rashes, change your bed and underwear more often. By the way, you can’t get the rash wet. This will only aggravate the discomfort and prolong the healing time of the rashes, because the water will spread the liquid from the bubbles to clean places on the body. The only exception is taking short-term baths with the addition of a weak solution of manganese. In addition, it is advisable to follow a simple diet and drink as much fluid as possible. Food is predominantly dairy-vegetable in nature - milk porridge, puree of pureed vegetables, fruits and juices.

To avoid contracting diphtheria and other dangerous infections, it is important to get vaccinated

“My four-year-old son has chickenpox in kindergarten. Six children in the group have already fallen ill. I didn’t take my son to the garden when it was frosty. The rashes on the girl who became infected first appeared a day or two after we stopped attending kindergarten. The teachers believe that my child was in contact and do not forbid us to go to the group. But we are playing it safe and have been staying at home for three weeks now. Could your son have caught the virus? How long can quarantine last in kindergarten?- asks FACTS reader Alla Savchuk from Kyiv.

“If chickenpox starts up in the kindergarten, it will spread until almost all susceptible children in the group are ill,” says Pediatrician, Kyiv Children's Clinic No. 2, Podolsk District Lyubov Shipunova. “This can take three months, because the infection is very volatile and sticky.” It is enough to ride in an elevator where a patient was 10 minutes before to catch an infection. The disease is called chickenpox because it is spread by the wind, with air flow. If a child has good immunity and little virus has entered the body, five or six blisters will appear on his body, which will heal in just a week. With a weakened immune system and a high degree of infection, there will be many rashes. Watery pimples can appear not only on the skin, but also on mucous membranes; in girls, on the labia, as well as under the hair. In severe cases of the disease, the temperature rises. An extremely rare complication of chickenpox is meningitis.

A child is contagious from the moment the first pimple appears and for the entire period while the rash lasts. If there was contact with a sick person and the baby still caught the virus, the disease may appear after 21 days - this is the incubation period for chickenpox. However, not everyone who interacts with the patient gets sick. Those children who have strong immunity can avoid infection.

Of course, it is better to get chickenpox in childhood. As a rule, it is more easily tolerated by children aged four to seven years. The infection is dangerous for a one-year-old child. Teenagers and adults are seriously ill.

— How to treat the disease?

— Bubbles should be treated with brilliant green or any other alcohol tincture. If the disease is severe, antiviral treatment is prescribed. It is important to ensure that the child does not pick off the blisters, otherwise he may get an infection, such as staphylococcus. Then the wound will fester, and when it heals, a dimple will remain on the body. This often happens when large rashes are picked off. The bubble should burst on its own. Then it will form a crust, which will fall off over time. Usually all the crusts fly off within two weeks. And then we can assume that the child is healthy and not dangerous to others.

— Are there often cases of whooping cough and scarlet fever today?

- Fortunately, no. With these diseases, several children fall ill at once in a kindergarten or school. If there was an isolated case somewhere, most likely the diagnosis was made incorrectly. Scarlet fever is a serious disease that can affect the kidneys and joints. A characteristic sign is a pale nasolabial triangle. But the disease is often confused with hemorrhagic vasculitis, which is allergic in nature. The rashes on the body with these ailments are similar; the mucous membranes are affected. By the way, when the rash disappears after scarlet fever, lamellar peeling appears on the fingers.

Whooping cough, which manifests itself as a paroxysmal, spasmodic cough, often ending in vomiting, is not suffered from because people are vaccinated against this infection. The disease is dangerous for young children, especially under one year of age. The baby may experience laryngeal spasm and respiratory arrest. Such children are hospitalized. After five years, the disease is much easier to tolerate.

“It used to be that it was better for a girl to get rubella in childhood. Parents took their daughter to tea with friends who had a sick child. What do doctors think about this now?

— Today, children are vaccinated against rubella and many other infections, so they don’t get sick. A woman who is planning a pregnancy should definitely get vaccinated against rubella. The infection is dangerous for the fetus.

In general, if a child has no contraindications to vaccination, he should be vaccinated. There are very dangerous infections, for example, diphtheria and polio. There is no need for a boy to have mumps. This disease affects the endocrine glands (salivary gland and testicles). If only the salivary glands are affected, nothing terrible will happen, but when the infection settles in the testicle, changes can occur there that threaten the boy with infertility in the future.

So we should try to protect children from infections by any means possible. It is recommended not only to get vaccinated, but also to toughen up the kids, take them for walks in the fresh air, and teach them to wash their hands frequently.

Doctor Maria Nikolaeva

People generally get chickenpox between the ages of two and four. This is due to the fact that at this age children begin to contact the external environment more often. The disease is easily tolerated in most children. In older people, infection often causes complications. In this regard, as well as the fact that after the initial infection, children develop strong immunity to the virus, there is a need to decide at what age it is better to get chickenpox.

Regardless of the patient’s age, chickenpox goes through several stages during its development. The main difference between adults and children in the nature of the manifestation of the disease is that the baby is less likely to experience complications. In addition, the intensity of general symptoms is influenced by the current state of immunity.

The duration of development of the disease varies within different limits. After infection, the pathogen does not provoke pronounced changes in the patient’s condition. During this period, the virus replicates inside the body. Sometimes in patients whose body is weakened by a concomitant disease, activity decreases during incubation of the pathogen.

10-21 days after infection the following occur:

• general malaise;
• slight increase in body temperature (rare);
• lethargic state;
• red spots on the body.

Within 1-2 days, bubble formations with liquid contents form on the body. This stage is characterized by intense itching in the area where the rash is located. During this period, the following symptoms may bother you:

• high body temperature (up to 39-40 degrees);
• intense headaches;
• feverish condition;
• intestinal disorder.

During the period of bubble formation, lymph nodes in various parts of the body may enlarge, which indicates an active fight of the immune system against the virus.

Is it better to have chickenpox as a child? - Doctor Komarovsky

Within 5-7 days, the rash opens up on its own, and small wounds appear in the affected area, which over time become covered with a dense crust. Bubbles on the body form in waves. Therefore, the child often simultaneously reveals new elements of the rash, open wounds and crusts on the skin.

Features of the course of chickenpox in older children

People who have previously had chickenpox develop strong immunity to this disease. In this regard, if a person was not infected in childhood, the risk of infection remains as they grow older.

The course of chickenpox in older children is accompanied by more severe symptoms. This is due to the fact that during this period hormonal changes occur, due to which the body is not able to resist the activity of pathogenic agents. Therefore, adolescents who are not carriers of the virus are recommended to get vaccinated against chickenpox.

The disease in people over 10 years of age has the following features:

1. Intense symptoms during the incubation period. A day before the formation of the first elements of the rash, the teenager’s body temperature rises, muscle pain and headaches occur, and signs of general intoxication of the body are observed. Convulsive twitching of the limbs and increased sensitivity of the eyes to light are also possible.
2. Extensive (generalized) spread of the rash that appears on the mucous membranes. The formation of blisters is accompanied by unbearable itching.
3. Each “wave,” characterized by the appearance of a new rash, causes a sharp deterioration in the patient’s condition.
4. High risk of tissue suppuration in the affected area. After the crusts fall off, the possibility of the formation of pigment spots and scars remains.
5. In rare cases, chickenpox is mild. The older the patient's age, the more acutely chickenpox is tolerated.

In older people, there is a high probability of the virus spreading throughout the body, which leads to the development of meningitis, arthritis, nephritis, bursitis and a number of other serious diseases.

Chickenpox - School of Dr. Komarovsky

The best age to get sick

In case of symptoms of the disease in children under the age of 11 months, they speak of a congenital form of chickenpox. The latter in such cases is especially difficult.

In 50% of patients aged 20-60 years, serious complications occur during primary infection with herpes. In adolescents, chickenpox also often contributes to the development of concomitant disorders.

The “optimal” age for infection is considered to be from one to two years. In children, infection with chickenpox causes mild symptoms or goes unnoticed (activity decreases, body temperature rises slightly). The disease is well tolerated by children aged 2-10 years. More often during this period, chickenpox is accompanied by the symptoms described above, and a small amount of rash appears on the body. The duration of development of the pathological process in such cases is 5-7 days.

The above information is not absolute. In some older patients and newborns, chickenpox does not cause serious complications. The possibility of developing concomitant disorders in children older than one year cannot be ruled out. The risk of developing diseases during chickenpox directly depends on the current state of immunity and compliance with medical recommendations.

Is it worth initiating an infection?

Due to the fact that it is easily tolerated in childhood, parents often wonder about the need for “forced” infection of the child.

It is important to understand that such decisions can negatively affect the condition of the children. It is quite difficult to predict how the disease will develop in a particular patient. In addition, it is difficult to determine the period when the body is “ready” to be exposed to the virus.

Also read with this

However, not all children feel equally well during acute periods of infection. Then, at what age is it better to get chickenpox? The most favorable age range is from 3 to 10 years. Why? Let's understand the intricacies of this disease.

The causative agent of chickenpox is considered to be herpes virus type 3. Its danger lies in the fact that the spread of “volatile” microorganisms occurs through airborne droplets. In other words, the sick person may not even come into direct contact with the sick person, because for infection it is enough to be close to the source. For example, in a closed room that is very rarely ventilated.

The period of development of the virus in the human body is from 2 to 3 weeks. During this time, the disease does not manifest itself in any way. In young children, the first symptoms appear unexpectedly and are associated with the following physical signs:

• the child becomes lethargic and inactive;
• a small pink rash forms en masse on the skin;
• a feverish state occurs with a temperature of up to 39-40 C;
• severe headaches and gastrointestinal upset.

The body actively fights throughout the entire period, as a result of which the lymph nodes enlarge. The rash multiplies quickly, the process is accompanied by severe itching. After a week, the spots are replaced by bubbles with liquid containing many live viruses. The blisters dry out after a while, forming crusts.

You can relieve itching and inflammation in the rash using any recommended method, but it is best to consult a doctor. Remember, if you scratch the blisters, small ulcers will form, which will take a long time to heal. And in the future, you will have to deal with subsequent residual scars.

Chickenpox was initially considered a childhood disease, which is more easily tolerated in infancy, but complications develop in adults. It seems that this fully answers the question: at what age is it best to get chickenpox? It is not uncommon when, in order to develop immunity, parents themselves seek to infect their baby. It is important to take into account the age of the child, since...

Newborns are protected from infection by “transferred immunity” for up to six months. If a nursing mother had chickenpox in childhood, then her antibodies are naturally transferred to the baby through breast milk. But the effect subsides after six months, and the body becomes susceptible to the pathogen.

If natural nutrition continues until the age of 2, the child is much more susceptible to viral infections. To determine at what age it is better for a person to get chickenpox, in order to avoid most of the negative consequences, we will study the manifestations of herpes zoster among various categories of the population:

• newborns (0-6 months) – especially severe forms of chickenpox, if the mother has an infection during childbirth, as well as in the absence of breastfeeding;
• infants (1-2 years) – mild or hidden symptoms;
• young children (2-10 years old) – mild, moderate form of chickenpox;
• adolescents (11-17 years old) – most often a complicated infection;
• adults (20-60 years) – more than half of the cases are severe with painful consequences;
• elderly (65-80 years) – a manifestation of herpes zoster caused by the “awakened” Varicella Zoster virus.

Chickenpox that occurs in childhood, as a rule, does not require specialized treatment. In fact, methods of helping an infected person are aimed at relieving itching and limiting the spread of the rash. A daily change of bed linen and clothing is sufficient. The course of the disease will be greatly facilitated by bed rest and a balanced diet. A small child should be distracted from scratching blisters.

If inflammation of the chickenpox rash is suspected, antibiotics are prescribed, but they have a detrimental effect on the general condition of the body no matter what age the child is.

Having chickenpox as an adult is not shameful, but it is unpleasant. The course of the disease is much more dangerous than in children. In adults, intoxication of the body during illness occurs much more intensely and severely.

The rashes remain on the skin for a month, and are constantly renewed. Waves of acute attacks provoke the appearance of new pimples that appear next to the dried crusts. People who are sick are characterized by high temperatures – this is how the body reacts to the virus. An elderly patient, at the prodromal stage 1-2 days before the rash, will feel severe chills, weakness, burning and sore throat. In rare cases, the condition may be complicated by nausea.

People who had chickenpox in Soviet times are sure that brilliant green will help relieve itching. But world practice does not recognize aniline dye solution as an effective medical product. Its optimal benefit (to better control the rash and get chickenpox in a green dot) is to indicate new pimples. Then the doctor will be able to tell exactly when a patient of any age will begin a period of recovery. No matter what age a person is, chickenpox becomes non-contagious five days after the last new element of the rash is detected on the skin.

Another drug, which is a precursor prohibited for free sale in many countries, is still widely popular in Russia. After all, a weak solution of potassium permanganate (potassium permanganate) dries out irritated skin tissue. In addition, it disinfects emerging wounds.

Chickenpox greatly weakens the immune system; scratched blisters can cause complications in the form of abscesses, boils and other purulent inflammations. People prone to allergies need to take antihistamines.

Chickenpox in adults can cause much more dangerous bacterial infections. A weakened immune system may not be able to cope with the threat, allowing serious diseases to affect the body:

• meningitis, encephalitis;
• pneumonia;
• all types of hepatitis;
• myocarditis and many others.

Symptoms of ordinary chickenpox may be complicated by the appearance of other ailments: shortness of breath, cough with bloody sputum, chest pain. All these signs characterize chickenpox pneumonia.

Chickenpox is dangerous at any age, but it is most dangerous for a woman while pregnant. Young girls can be advised to be more attentive to their own health and think about the future generation. Just ask your parents about the age at which you had chickenpox. Or do tests for the presence of antibodies to this pathogen in the blood. If it is found that there is no protection, then an effective vaccine can be purchased.

A pregnant girl who contracts primary chickenpox risks not only her life, but also the life of her baby. The herpes virus negatively affects the development of the fetus. Quite rare, but the question may arise about the further preservation of the child, this is especially true if the body of the expectant mother is infected during the period from the 14th to the 20th week of pregnancy. In the second and third trimester, the fetus is already protected by the placenta.

The influence of the chickenpox pathogen on an adult girl at the very end of pregnancy is also dangerous. Before birth, 3-4 days later, infection with type 3 herpes can lead to a congenital infection in the baby. The reason for this is very simple. His own immunity has not yet formed, and maternal antibodies have not yet developed. Therefore, during the birth process, viruses are transmitted, which are immediately introduced into the child’s circulatory system.

We can conclude that it is much easier and simpler to get chickenpox in preschool age. The immunity developed during this period will protect the body from re-infection. There is a common misconception that subsequent illness from chickenpox is impossible. Unfortunately, this is not entirely true. In any case, the manifestation of reinfection does not depend on the age at which a person had chickenpox. Everything is based on general health and strong immunity.

If a person has suffered a serious illness or suffered a chronic complication, then a sharp drop in the level of the defense system is possible, and as a result, the awakening of the herpes virus.

Chickenpox – School of Dr. Komarovsky

Chickenpox is a viral disease that affects 80% of the population. The vast majority encounter it in childhood, when the risk of serious complications is minimal. Chickenpox is much more dangerous in adults, especially the elderly. In the latter group, there is even a risk of death due to this infection. When the first signs of the disease appear, try to immediately visit a doctor who can diagnose chickenpox in the early stages and also prescribe effective treatment. It is impossible to unequivocally answer the question at what age people get chickenpox - the infection can develop in any person.

Chickenpox in children under one year of age

In newborn children, chickenpox is quite severe. They have a fairly high risk of developing serious complications that can leave consequences for life. The fact is that such children have practically no immunity; the body is not able to fight pathogens. It is for this reason that their recovery is extremely difficult and takes a long time. The only exceptions are those newborns who received antibodies to chickenpox through breast milk.

Recognizing chickenpox in children under one year of age is quite simple. Their body temperature quickly rises, and numerous rashes appear on the skin. After a few days, watery blisters appear at the site of the rash, which may increase in size. It should be noted that chickenpox is characterized by a wave-like course; it is for this reason that you should not stop treatment at the first relief.

Chickenpox in older children

Chickenpox is best tolerated by children aged 2-10 years. It occurs in a mild form and almost never causes complications or unpleasant consequences. This disease can be recognized in them by the onset of a rash, which is somewhat reminiscent of mosquito bites. Over time, such a rash grows and turns into numerous papules. Body temperature also increases, but it rarely exceeds 38 degrees.

It is very important that the child receives qualified and complete treatment during illness. You should not self-medicate or ignore the course of the disease. Any medications you want to give your child to alleviate his condition should be discussed with your doctor. Also make sure that the blisters on the body are not injured, otherwise numerous scars will remain.

Chickenpox in adults

Chickenpox in adults is usually quite severe, after which in most cases they develop. It is generally accepted that the older the person, the more severe the infection will be. Chickenpox begins with severe redness of the skin, which after a while begins to itch unbearably. Over time, a rash appears that rapidly grows throughout the body. At the site of the rash, voluminous blisters are formed, inside of which there is an infectious liquid. On average, the duration of treatment for chickenpox in adults is 2 weeks, during which the body temperature remains high.

Chickenpox in older people

Many people believe that chickenpox in older people is a myth. Statistics show that every year the number of pensioners infected with smallpox is steadily growing. It is very simple to explain: over time, the body weakens significantly, its protective functions decrease. A distinctive feature of chickenpox in older people is that in most cases it causes complications, and in 20% even death. Most often, after chickenpox, elderly people encounter problems such as pneumonia, neuralgia, arthritis, myocarditis, and rheumatism. To minimize the risk of developing such consequences, antiherpetic drugs are taken during treatment.