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Chicken pox
Prof. Dr. Marlina, MS, Apt.
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Chickenpox, also spelled chicken pox, is the
common name for Varicella zoster
Classically one of the childhood infectious
diseases caught and survived by most children.
Chickenpox is caused by the varicella-zoster virus
(VZV), also known as human herpes virus 3
(HHV-3), one of the eight herpes viruses known
to affect humans.
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It starts with conjunctival and
catarrhal symptoms, extreme
defecation and then characteristic
spots appearing in two or three
waves, mainly on the body and head
rather than the hands and becoming
itchy raw pox (pocks), small open
sores which heal mostly without
scarring.
Penyebaran
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Chickenpox has a 10-14 day
incubation period and is highly
contagious by air transmission two
days before symptoms appear.
Following primary infection there is
usually lifelong protective immunity
from further episodes of chickenpox.
 Recurrent chickenpox is fairly rare
but more likely in people with
compromised immune systems.
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Symptomatic treatment, with
calamine lotion to ease itching and
paracetamol (American English:
acetaminophen) to reduce fever, is
widely used.
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Chickenpox is rarely fatal (usually
from varicella pneumonia), with
pregnant women and those with a
suppressed immune systems being
more at risk.
Pregnant women not known to be
immune and who come into contact
with chickenpox may need urgent
treatment as the virus can cause
serious problems for the fetus.
 This is less of an issue after 20
weeks
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Signs and Symptoms
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Chickenpox is a highly contagious
disease that spreads from person to
person by direct contact or through
the air from an infected person's
coughing or sneezing.
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Touching the fluid from a chickenpox
blister can also spread the disease. A
person with chickenpox is contagious from
1-2 days before the rash appears until all
blisters have formed scabs. This may take
5-10 days.
It takes from 10-21 days after contact
with an infected person for someone to
develop chickenpox.
Vaccination
A varicella vaccine has been
available since 1995 to inoculate
against the disease.
 Some countries require the varicella
vaccination or an exemption for
matriculation in elementary school.
 Protection is not lifelong and further
vaccination is necessary five years
after the initial immunisation.
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In the UK, varicella antibodies are
measured as part of the routine of
prenatal care, and by 2005 all NHS
healthcare personnel had determined their
immunity and been immunised if they
were non-immune and have direct patient
contact.
Population-based immunisation against
varicella is not otherwise practised in the
UK, because of lack of evidence of lasting
efficacy or public health benefit.
Why the name of chickenpox :
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Samuel Johnson suggested that the
disease was "no very great danger", thus
a "chicken" version of the pox;
the specks that appear looked as though
the skin was pecked by chickens;
the disease was named after chick peas,
from a supposed similarity in size of the
seed to the lesions;
the term reflects a corruption of the Old
English word giccin, which meant itching.
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As "pox" also means curse, in
medieval times some believed it was
a plague brought on to curse children
by the use of black magic.