Varicella: causative agent, modes of transmission, symptoms of the disease, treatment

Chickenpox disease is a viral infection, manifested as a skin rash with a watery content, is most often defined as a child disease, but it also occurs in adults. It is believed that the basis of chicken pox is the herpes virus, which in this case is transmitted by airborne droplets during communication and close contact of children and adults. Most often it is a disease that occurs in children under 12 years old. But sometimes adults get sick of it.

According to the doctors' reviews, chickenpox in childhood is quite easy, which can not be said about adults. They are quite hard to tolerate the disease, complications can occur. What is dangerous chicken pox? The causative agent of this disease, the causes and methods of treatment will be discussed in this article.

In which places can you catch chickenpox more often?

Most often, chickenpox infects young children in a nursery and kindergarten, schools, playgrounds in the courtyard of an apartment building, in children's cafes, etc. Due to the transmission of the virus by airborne droplets, the virus is fairly easy to spread when children are foundin mass places. Infected with chickenpox can not more than 2 times. This is the difference between chicken pox. The causative agent will be discussed below.

After the experienced disease, antibodies form in the body, forming immunity to this disease. Therefore, adults who are convinced that in childhood they had chickenpox, popularly called chickenpox, without fear of contact with a sick child. It is often difficult to understand that a child or an adult has become infected with chickenpox, since the incubation period of the disease is twenty-one days. The causative agent of chicken pox has already settled in the body.

Therefore, a child infected with chickenpox continues to visit public places and spread the virus. Under such circumstances, a whole epidemic of chickenpox infection often occurs in kindergartens and schools. Doctors believe that the massive spread of infection during a certain period minimizes further outbreaks of chicken pox disease. The causative agent( transmission methods - airborne) quickly enters the body, for this purpose, a fleeting contact is enough.

So, having experienced at the same time, part of the group in kindergarten is a partial guarantee of the absence of chickenpox in children during this year.

The causative agent of chicken pox

Microbiology confirms that the causative agent of the disease is the virus Strongyloplasma varicella, which has an icosahedral form. Refers to DNA-containing viruses.

It is believed that the smallpox virus and the herpes zoster virus( herpes zoster) are virions of the same virus, morphologically and structurally identical to the herpes simplex virus.

How is chicken pox manifested?

The causative agent of the disease is the third type of herpes-viral infection.

Chicken pox is characterized by abundant rashes on the skin in the form of red vesicles with liquid. Initially, the patient begins a strong itch, and after appearing small rashes, which are subsequently filled with liquid.

Blasting, these bubbles leave traces. Sometimes pockmarks can persist in the form of scars throughout life. It is not recommended to comb the already manifested rashes. Basically, they cover the back, armpits, skin of the head, hands and feet, face and scalp. If chickenpox in an adult, then he experiences more difficulties due to rashes on the scalp, genitals due to treatment.

In addition to itching and rashes, chicken pox is often accompanied by an elevated body temperature of 37-39 degrees, headache, weakness in the muscles. In adults with chicken pox, the temperature can be kept at 40 degrees or higher, muscle pain can be accompanied by cramps in the limbs, dizziness and nausea.

So it shows itself in the diagnosis of chicken pox( causative agent).

Symptoms and pathways of the disease are considered. Let's move on to diagnosis and treatment.

Diagnosis

Determine the onset of the disease primarily on skin rashes.

For the diagnosis, biochemical blood tests are performed to determine the herpes virus in the active phase. Urine analysis can also show the level of inflammation in the body.

This is most often determined by chicken pox.

The causative agent and symptoms are interrelated.

Treatment of

First of all, a sick child or adult should be isolated from the community in order to eliminate the possibility of spreading the virus. It is advisable not to go out in the street, in the sunlight, the rashes become larger. The duration of treatment for chicken pox is 2-3 weeks from the moment of manifestation of the disease.

Treatment for chickenpox is complex, aimed at fighting the signs of disease and increasing the level of immunity.

To control herpes, a number of antiviral drugs are prescribed. For adults in tablets or in the form of injections, for children more often in the form of liquid syrups. One of these drugs is Acyclovir. Varicella( the causative agent of infection - the herpes virus) will be much quicker as a result of taking this medication.

At an elevated temperature, an adult and a child are prescribed antipyretic drugs. For children in the form of rectal suppositories and syrups, for adults in tablets.

To eliminate itching, antihistamines may be prescribed. Children are very difficult to restrain and not to comb the skin.

In order to fight the rash on the skin, children are treated point-wise with a cotton swab soaked in green. During the day, they are treated approximately 3-4 times. Eruptions last for the first 3-4 days after the first manifestations of the disease.

Both children and adults are not recommended to swim, because when they come into contact with moisture, skin rashes do not heal in a timely manner. During the whole period of the disease you can take no more than 3-4 times to take a bath using a string, chamomile. The disinfecting, healing and drying properties of these herbs will positively influence the treatment process. The causative agent of chickenpox in children is the same as in adults - type 3 herpes-virus infection.

Adults, if there is no possibility to treat with chickenpox chickenpox, it is recommended to carry out procedures using alcohol or iodine alcohol solution.

To improve the protective properties of the body, children and adults are prescribed a complex of vitamins, immunomodulating agents, for example "Immunal."

How else is chicken pox treated? The causative agent of infection is a virus, so treatment should be treated in a comprehensive manner.

It is important to revise the diet of a sick child during treatment. Restricted in outdoor walks, physical activity, weakened by the impact of the virus, the child needs additional energy that he can receive from food. It is mandatory to include in the menu of dairy products, fruits and vegetables, porridges based on cereals and legumes.

It is very important to maintain the level of water-alkaline balance in the body, the patient must drink plenty of water. To improve health and quickly remove toxins, you can drink a decoction of rose hips, which stimulate the liver and kidneys well.

Treatment for varicella is performed at home most often. But if a child or an adult feels bad, the temperature keeps over 38 degrees, the question of outpatient or inpatient treatment is being decided. This is a dangerous agent of chicken pox.

When treating chickenpox, it is very important to properly treat the rashes on the face and skin surface of the body. With complication, pus formation, inflammation, they will necessarily leave scars. To prevent this, it is necessary to carry out treatment using a weak solution of manganese, alcohol.

With very severe course of the disease, a course of antibiotic treatment is prescribed. In such cases, treatment can be delayed and take more than 20 days. The older the patient, the greater the likelihood of complications. In addition, due to the age of the patient, the process of treating the rashes is more complicated. Skin covers in blonde people, genitals and face are almost impossible to process with greenery. It leaves a pigment that is undesirable for aesthetic reasons.

In life, each person suffers chickenpox once. In rare cases, a person can become infected twice. After all, the causative agent of chicken pox is the herpes virus, and it is present in the body of every person.

If there are several children in the family and one of them is sick with chickenpox, then the second one should be isolated so that the infection does not spread. But if children under 5 years old, sometimes parents intentionally allow the second child to be infected with the virus, so that there are no serious consequences for infection with chicken pox in adulthood.

Actually, chickenpox belongs to the category of fairly simple diseases. The temperature and acute manifestations of the disease exist in the first three days. Further, the patient feels well, and it remains to heal the rashes on the skin.

Given that this is a viral infection, against the background of chickenpox, inflammatory processes in the upper respiratory tract can occur in parallel: bronchitis, tracheitis, pharyngitis or rhinitis.

Pregnancy and age before the year

How does varicella occur in pregnant and infants?

The causative agent( the characteristics given above) can enter the body of a pregnant woman and a baby. What to do in this case? About this below.

Due to the sterile conditions of the maternity hospital, the distribution of varicella in the walls of the maternity ward practically does not occur. If the mother was infected with chicken pox, the child is placed in an isolated box. The mother is also isolated from the rest of the patients. In addition to diagnosing and treating varicella, several measures are being taken to prevent the spread of the virus to other patients.

When infected with chicken pox, pregnant women use antiviral therapy with medicines that do not penetrate the placenta and do not affect the fetus. Treatment with antibiotics in this case is excluded. The patient is placed in a hospital, the treatment is conducted under supervision. In late pregnancy there is a risk of infection of the child with chickenpox during childbirth.

An intractable disease can cause miscarriage in early pregnancy and premature birth in later life.

The main prevention of varicella is the disinfection and sterilization of the rooms where the patient was.

Home Prevention

How is chicken pox prevented? The causative agent, we have considered the transmission routes. Therefore, after the end of the course of treatment for chickenpox in the room where the patient was, spend maximum ventilation. Bed linen and towels are washed and ironed. It is necessary to wash the clothes of the patient.

Carry wet cleaning using chlorine-containing chemicals in the room where the patient was, and in public places.

When in the house or apartment of a patient it is necessary to ensure its complete isolation, visit the patient in a medical mask.

Provide the patient with personal use the dishes, towels, personal care products.

It should be remembered that chicken pox is quite dangerous for an adult. The causative agent and the pathways of the disease are known to all.

Prevention in public places

Permanent sterilization and treatment of premises using chlorine is mandatory in kindergartens and schools.

When diagnosing chicken pox in children, isolate patients from healthy children.

In kindergartens and educational institutions, mass vaccination against antiviral diseases is carried out.

Personal prophylaxis of varicella zoster

To prevent disease, chicken pox( the causative agent of the disease - the virus) must be maintained at the proper level of immunity. In order to improve the protective functions of the body use a full-fledged diet with the use of foods high in fiber, vitamins, microelements.

• Take immunomodulating medications.
• Take vitamin complexes.
• In the risk zone, when visiting public places apply antiviral ointments, medical masks.
• Antiviral vaccinations are used.
• When visiting patients with chickenpox it is necessary to use antiviral agents, to exclude contact and use a medical mask.

Who is more prone to chicken pox infection?

• People with weakened immunity who have just undergone disease already having inflammatory diseases are more susceptible to the varicella-zoster virus.
• Children in the manger and kindergartens. They have constant contact and easily transmit each other a viral infection by airborne droplets.
• Parents who had not previously contracted chicken pox are exposed to infection in case of illness of children. For a sick child it is necessary to take care of, and most often this role falls out to parents. In this case, if one of the parents is already sick with chickenpox, it is necessary to assign duties to care for the sick child.
• Teachers, nannies and other employees of kindergartens and educational institutions. They are forced to contact sick children and, in the first place, risk becoming infected with a viral infection.
• Employees in pharmacies, trade and service. People of this profession are constantly in contact with the population and risk getting airborne by virtually any viral infection.
• Doctors, nurses, staff of medical institutions. By virtue of their profession, they are not able to avoid infection with a viral infection.
• Close relatives and family of a patient with chicken pox. Not being able to isolate, being in the same residential area with the patient, they are constantly at risk of airborne infection by the virus.

Consequences of chicken pox disease

Because the causative agent of chickenpox( microbiology confirms this) is a virus, the main consequences for a child are the weakening of immunity. Long-term isolation, lack of fresh air, appetite and virus damage worsen the child's health. If chicken pox passed with complications in an adult, it also reduces the level of its immunity.

After severe scratching, rashes from the chicken pox leave small scars on the skin in the form of holes. They can remain for life, which is not entirely aesthetically pleasing.

In rare cases, after chickenpox, the patient may have difficulty in working the kidneys and liver.

Because of the long-term use of alcohol-containing solutions, dry skin, various types of dermatitis may appear. To avoid such unpleasant consequences, after the end of treatment, it is necessary to lubricate the skin with fatty creams, glycerin and other moisturizers.

Varicella is primarily considered a child's disease. In adults, most often this is a secondary syndrome. Sometimes the virus is cumulative. If a person has already suffered from chickenpox once, then in contact with infected patients, chickenpox can manifest as skin diseases, for example, shingles. Adults at risk of re-contracting chicken pox most often if they have a low level of immunity and they are prone to disease.

In case of strong mass epidemics in public organizations, educational institutions can announce quarantine. Chickenpox belongs to the category of rapidly spreading viral infections, and in case of an epidemic, more than half of the team can become infected. To quench the foci of infection, in such cases, quarantine is declared. Because the presence in society of a large number of adults or children who have an incubation period, when there is a possibility of infection, is undesirable.

The total time from infection to the end of treatment with varicella is from 2 weeks to 1 month. Within 10-12 days after the absence of manifest manifestations of the disease, the person is still the spreader of the infection. After the end of treatment, doctors recommend another week not to take the child to school and kindergarten. It is dangerous for other children to spread the infection.

Occasionally, chicken pox can only be affected by itching and rash. The causative agent and the symptoms of the disease are often interrelated.

In children with a high level of activity, the disease passes in a mild form, without high body temperature, complications of skin rashes and the general condition of the body.

Which doctor should be treated with chicken pox?

Usually, in children who go to kindergarten and school, a rash on the skin during infection with chickenpox is detected and diagnosed by the medical worker of the organization.

The second stage is to visit a local pediatrician or call a doctor at home if the patient is not feeling well.

The district pediatrician diagnoses varicella and prescribes the course of treatment and the drugs used.

For outpatient treatment, the patient should be constantly monitored by a pediatrician.

If the patient needs hospitalization, the district doctor issues a referral to the hospital, where further treatment is carried out.

If the patient has complications, then the decision on hospitalization is made independently. To do this, call the ambulance, after which further treatment is conducted within the walls of the medical institution.

If the infection occurred at home, then it is necessary to call the district pediatrician to determine the diagnosis and the order of treatment. Then, after the appointment, conduct treatment.

When an adult is infected with chickenpox, it is necessary to consult a physician-therapist in a medical institution at the first manifestations of a rash. If the therapist has doubts, then the examination is conducted by a dermatologist. Further treatment is prescribed at home or outpatiently. In case of complications, it is necessary to call an ambulance for hospitalization.

To determine that a patient has chicken pox is very easy. Itching begins, and after scratching, small red pimples appear, which begin to appear more and more. Practically during the day the patient sprinkles completely. Tonsils, a nasopharynx, a mucous age can inflame.

This is dangerous chicken pox. Pathogen and causes are discussed above.

Despite the fact that this is a fairly widespread virus disease, which is of a massive nature, do not forget that it still has consequences.

The less attention will be paid to the treatment of chickenpox, the more likely the occurrence of consequences that are unhealthy especially for the child's body. Any virus affects the formation of a growing child. In addition, a neglected, severely leaking disease can cause systemic changes, blood diseases, etc. In this regard, it is not necessary to neglect the measures of prevention and adherence to the treatment regimen.

What drugs are used to treat varicella?

• An alcoholic solution of greenery diamond.
• Manganese solution.
• Glycerin.
• Alcohol.
• "Fukortzin".
• "Acyclovir" and its analogues of foreign production.
• "Zovirax", other antiviral medicines.
• Antibiotics "Amoxiclav", penicillin group, tetracycline group.
• Vitamin complexes for children and adults.
• Antihistamines: "Clarotodine", "Suprastin" or other Russian and foreign products.

It is important to diagnose the disease in time for infection with chickenpox, to observe all necessary measures to isolate the patient, the prescription of the doctor. In any case, do not interrupt treatment, do not go out into the street and into society before the scheduled time. With severe smallpox on the face after chicken pox for 1 month to treat the scars with ointment "Kontratubeks".One month after the end of treatment, as a diagnosis of the consequences, it is necessary to submit biochemical blood and urine tests.

If necessary, you need to make an immunogram, based on the results of the diagnosis, it will be clear how negative the impact of the disease on the human body was.

In the article, we examined in case of a disease a chickenpox causative agent, symptoms and methods of treatment of this disease.