Chickenpox in a child - symptoms and quick treatment

2024 Author: James Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 14:00

Almost every parent knows what are the main symptoms and treatment of chickenpox. But if a rash appears on the body and at the same time a high temperature persists, you should immediately consult a doctor without self-medication. However, everyone should know how a child's chickenpox proceeds and what is its incubation period.

Symptoms of chickenpox in children

Symptoms are typical and it is difficult to confuse them with something else. Let's consider them in more detail:

1. The child has a fever, the thermometer rises to 39-40 ° C.
2. Along with the temperature, rashes appear on the skin.
3. Over time, the rash changes: small nodules without content after a few hours become blisters with shiny, strained walls, with a red border and a depression at the top, as in the photo.
4. The rash appears first in the hair growth zone and then spreads to the arms and legs.
5. When new rashes appear, a jump in body temperature is observed.
6. 2-3 days after the appearance of blisters in place, crusts form. After 10-14 days, they disappear.
7. In the active phase of the disease in children, all three stages of the rash are observed. In the area of the rash, the child experiences severe itching.
8. The rash lasts about 5 days, then the disease disappears.
9. With chickenpox, a child may have atypical rashes (as in the photo).

Sometimes rashes are found on the mucous membranes.

Sometimes chickenpox in children is asymptomatic, and occasionally it is atypical, with a low, up to 37, 5 °, temperature and practically no rashes. In this case, immunity is formed in the same way as after an ordinary illness: almost lifelong. But to find out if there is a risk of getting sick upon contact with patients, you can only take a blood test for antibodies to the pathogen of chickenpox.

Chickenpox in infants

Chickenpox in children under one year old is extremely rare, especially those who are breastfed. Babies are protected by the mother's immunity. But what if the baby is an artificial person, or if his mother did not have chickenpox, which means she cannot give him antibodies, since she does not have them?

The situation is even worse when the mother fell ill just before giving birth. Throughout almost the entire pregnancy, the virus does not pose a great danger to the fetus, but when it is time to give birth, intrauterine infection can occur. Chickenpox is extremely dangerous in children who were born with a weight of up to 1 kg.

All such children suffer from chickenpox extremely severely and almost twice as long as babies 3-4 years old. High fever causes convulsions in infants, and purulent complications, including pneumonia, are frequent. For the prevention of chickenpox, babies are given an anti-wind globulin - in fact, they are injected with those antibodies that the mother could pass through breast milk.

This is not a vaccine, and the child's protection will be only temporary, but sufficient to safely grow up to the age when the vaccine can be administered or it is relatively safe to get sick. This drug is also included in the complex treatment of chickenpox in infants.

If a child under one year old nevertheless contracted chickenpox, hospitalization is necessary: complications in babies develop very quickly. Older children, if they feel relatively well, are treated at home under the supervision of a local pediatrician.

The incubation period of chickenpox in children

The time from infection to the onset of the first symptoms of chickenpox (incubation period) can range from 10 days to 3 weeks. At the same time, the patient can infect others 2 days before the first symptoms, and it ceases to be dangerous to others 5 days after the cessation of the rash.

Treatment

In the usual course, symptomatic treatment of chickenpox is used: they bring down the temperature if it rises above 39 ° C, which is possible in the first days of the disease, relieve itching, treat the rash.

The main question is: how to treat? Dr. Komarovsky, speaking about the symptoms and treatment of chickenpox, warns: with chickenpox, aspirin is not allowed, it is with this disease that it can lead to extremely serious consequences for the liver. Some pediatricians also do not recommend Ibuprofen (Nurofen, etc.). Therefore, with chickenpox, it is better to limit yourself to taking traditional paracetamol and drugs based on it.

How to relieve itching with chickenpox in a child? First of all, antihistamines (antiallergic) drugs. For the smallest (from 1 month), you can use Dimetinden ("Fenistil"), from 6 months. Cetirizine is added to the list of approved drugs, from 2 years old - Loratadin, chloropyramine ("Suprastin") and other antiallergic drugs.

It is important that a child with chickenpox sweats as little as possible, because the sweat is salty, it additionally irritates the skin and increases itching.

Pediatrician Yevgeny Komarovsky believes that if the room is too hot, there will be more benefits from bathing than harm. After all, the basis for the prevention of purulent inflammation of the skin - pyoderma - is the absence of scratching. Therefore, in the treatment of chickenpox, the greatest attention is paid to hygiene.

If the child is sweating and itching, you need to bathe him (do not take a bath, but just wash, gently and without a washcloth), and after the bath, blot with a towel without wiping.

Change your bedding daily. Be sure to trim your child's nails and put on gloves if necessary.

Distract your baby, itching is a serious condition, and even adults can not easily resist it. Anything will do - cartoons, reading aloud - whatever the child loves. If the itching is really unbearable, gently pat with your fingertips in the itchy area without breaking the integrity of the bubbles.

The treatment of chickenpox does not imply any special diet, but if a rash appears on the mucous membranes of the mouth, you will have to switch to pureed soups, mashed potatoes and broths. All food and drink should be at room temperature, so as not to further injure the oral cavity. This is not for long: in 4-5 days it will be possible to return to normal food.

Blisters can be treated with any antiseptic. Traditionally, a solution of brilliant green is used for this, or, more simply, "brilliant green". But this is not aesthetically pleasing, it stains the linen, and most importantly, alcohol solutions cause unnecessary pain to the child.

Therefore, it is better to use other agents in the treatment of chickenpox, the spectrum of which is very wide - from the expensive Poksklin hydrogel to the penny chlorhexidine. Both disinfect the skin well and dry out blisters.

If the baby has chronic diseases, especially of an allergic nature, during the treatment of chickenpox, they can worsen. Therefore, relatives need to be extremely attentive to the baby's condition and carefully follow all the prescriptions of the attending physician. If a child with a serious chronic illness is infected, it is worth discussing the appropriateness of hospitalization with the pediatrician.

What is absolutely forbidden to do with chickenpox? According to Dr. Komarovsky, in the first place, you should not overheat the child. He already has a temperature, but the child's body still does not know how to cool itself. It is necessary to provide him with plenty of drink. Don't be afraid that your baby will sweat if you just need to shower.

Never cover the rash with anything before the doctor arrives. Especially with coloring antiseptics. Nothing bad will happen if the blisters are left untreated for several hours, but the symptoms of chickenpox or other disease can be hidden by war paint.

Prevention of chickenpox

The usual hygiene measures from chickenpox will not help protect yourself: it is useless to wash your hands and smear your nose with oxolinic ointment against the virus, which easily spreads through the air in a diameter of 20 m from the patient or from the child at the end of the incubation period.

But back in the 70s of the last century in Japan, the first chickenpox vaccine was developed and firmly entered the clinical practice of different countries. For almost half a century of its use, no serious complications have been noted, but the number of cases among vaccinated people is minimal, and those who are unlucky get sick in a very mild form.

In Japan, the United States and Germany, chickenpox vaccination is included in the National Vaccination Schedule. In the first two countries, a child without such a vaccination will not even be admitted to a child care institution. In the UK, treatment for chickenpox is preferred because children with chickenpox help the elderly less likely to get shingles by maintaining strong anti-wind resistance (these two very different diseases are actually caused by the same virus - Varicella Zoster).

In Russia, it did not come to the National Calendar, but the child can be vaccinated at the request of the parents, and it is possible to administer the vaccine on the same day with any other vaccine except BCG. Vaccination is done twice with an interval of 3 months.

It is impossible to get sick with chickenpox due to vaccination: the virus in the vaccine is weakened and does not pose a danger. In this case, there are no symptoms of chickenpox. The vaccine can be done starting from 12 months. In some regions of Russia, vaccination is already available in the compulsory health insurance system, and from 2019 the vaccination must be included in the National Calendar. In Moscow, you can get free vaccination against chickenpox right now, but there are interruptions with the vaccine, so before vaccination it is better to check its availability by phone.

Vaccination is also possible after contact with a sick person or with a child during the incubation period. 2-3% of urgently vaccinated children within 72 hours (3 days) after a possible infection of children may show symptoms of chickenpox, but in a mild form. Among the unvaccinated, the incidence is above 50%.

Myths about chickenpox

Chickenpox is safe. This is not true. Mortality (deaths) with chickenpox occurs in 1 in 60,000 children who become ill and is caused by complications of the disease, such as meningoencephalitis, liver and kidney damage. Therefore, a child with chickenpox symptoms should be closely monitored. In adults, mortality from complications of chickenpox reaches 35%.

Chickenpox goes away without consequences. This is also not true. The virus remains in the body for life and with a decrease in immunity, it can manifest itself as shingles - a painful skin disease with a long course.

Windmill parties are good and right. That's a moot point. On the one hand, in most cases, children get sick with chickenpox much easier than adults, the frequency of complications and the more mortality at a young age is much lower. On the other hand, those who have not had chickenpox, in principle, cannot get shingles. And why risk it if there is a vaccine?

Chickenpox is fraught with infertility for boys. This is not true. In girls and boys, chickenpox proceeds in the same way, and its consequences are the same.

Chickenpox, like any disease, is stress for the body and a lot of unpleasant sensations for little patients. We must not forget that she has complications, even extremely serious ones. Therefore, if a child is sick, it is necessary to carefully monitor his condition and always, even if it just seems that something is wrong, consult a doctor.

The main consequence of chickenpox is shingles, which overtakes already adults, and more often the elderly when their immunity decreases. In this case, the virus, which has been dormant in the human nervous system for decades, begins to multiply again and attacks the skin. This is a very painful disease, which in some cases is life-threatening, and is always difficult to tolerate.

If earlier chickenpox was considered an inevitable evil, now you can save your baby from trouble at the most tender and most vulnerable ages.