Useful information on the history, symptoms and treatment of chicken pox.Discuss childhood illnesses - chicken pox on our forums, right now! Or, post a comment below.Chicken pox, also spelled chickenpox, is a common childhood disease caused by the varicella-zoster virus (VZV), also known as human herpes virus 3 (HHV-3), one of the eight herpesviruses known to affect humans. HistoryOne history of medicine book claims that Giovanni Filippo (1510 - 80) of Palermo gave the first description of varicella (chicken pox). Subsequently in the 1600s, an English physician named Richard Morton described what he thought was a mild form of smallpox as "chicken pox." Later, in 1767, a physician named William Heberden, also from England, was the first physician to clearly demonstrate that chicken pox was different from smallpox. However, it is believed that the name chicken pox was commonly used in earlier centuries before doctors knew what they were seeing. Symptoms
Chicken pox is characterised by a fever followed by itchy raw pox or open sores. Chicken pox has a two week incubation period and is highly contagious by air transmission two days before symptoms appear. Therefore chicken pox spreads quickly through schools and other places of close contact. Once someone was infected with the disease, they usually develop an immunity and cannot get it again. As the disease is more severe if contracted by an adult, parents have been known to ensure that their children became infected before adulthood.
Treatment
The disease is rarely fatal: if it does cause death, it is usually from varicella pneumonia, which occurs more frequently in pregnant women. Doctors advise that pregnant women who come into contact with chickenpox should contact their doctor immediately as the virus can cause serious problems for the foetus. Later in life, virus remaining in the nerves can develop into the painful disease, shingles.
Author : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_pox | 
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