it is another rush hour at the end of
academic session with the teachers pushing
through the “portions” and parents burning
midnight oil with their children in
preparation for the impending “finals”
during february-march when the cold of
winter gives into the warmth. Well this
also an ideal time for “varicella zoster”
a virus causing chicken pox to strike
causing red, bumpy eruptions filled with
fluid associated with fever, cold and
cough and causing the child to miss a week
of school.
What is chicken pox?:
chicken-pox is an infection of the virus
which spreads easily from one to another
through the droplets released during
sneezing, cough, breathing or even
touching the affected person. About half
the infected every year are between the
age of 5-9 years. Adults infected have a
more severe form of the disease than
children.
Transmission & symptoms:
once a child is infected with chicken-pox
it causes the symptoms in about 7-21 days
which is called incubation period. The
virus enters the nose and throat causing
flu, pharyngitis like symptoms reaching
the lungs causing cough. Through the
blood stream from the lungs the virus
reaches the skin surface causing the
typical pox of the disease. Fever may
range from 101-104 degree f.
The pox appear as red rash to begin with
turning into raised, bumpy eruptions
filled with fluid. This lasts for a
period of seven days when it tends to dry
out and fall in scabs. These eruptions
start appearing over the trunk and neck
and spread all over the body including the
mouth causing ulcers, the scalp etc.
Itching is the predominant symptom of this
ailment. Scratching does not allow the
lesion to heal and can cause a mark in the
area.
During the first two days of infection and
till the lesion dries out the chances of
transmission to others are high.
One good news at the end of this is that
one attack gives life long immunity.
Complications:
though chicken pox is more of a nuisance,
it has the potential to cause infections
like pneumonia, encephalitis and severe
bacterial infections of the eruptions. So
it is imperative that a child whose
immunity is low due to illnesses like
leukemia.
The same virus can remain dormant in the
nerve sheaths and cause herpes zoster or
shingles in adult life.
Home treatment:
keep the child at home till the crusts dry
out.
Better than a bath is to help the child
with swab either with luke-warm or normal
temperature water whichever is comfortable
to the child. Do not scrub or rub the
skin.
Trim the nails of the child.
A soft, bland diet should be given.
Avoid intake of salty and acidic foods
like orange juice etc.
What can homoeopathy do?
Homoeopathy has good remedies to prevent
the occurrence with the application of
prophylactic medicines. It has good
remedies to reduce the itching, relieve
the concomitant conditions like nasal
catarrh, throat infections, cough,
blisters in the mouth during the attack.
It can prevent / treat secondary
infections thereby reducing the
probability of complications. It is as
mild and safe as one would desire to see
the child through the ordeal.
Dr. Venugopal gouri
bhms (bachelor of homoeopathic medicine
& surgery)
consultant homoeopath.
Drve
nugopal@hotmail.Com
mobile: 9140 - 56 27 26 25.
|
secretzone
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 06 Jun 2005 Posts: 1
Chickpox And Antibody Posted: 06-06-05 13:18pm
Hi,
is it possible to have chicken pox but
the blood test shows that there is the
body is not immune to the virus? I
vividly remembered I had chicken pox in
fourth grade (around age 9), and had to
stay home from school for almost a week.
My two younger sisters also had chicken
pox about 3 years later. By sharing same
bedroom as them, it's very unlikely that I
didn't caught chicken pox from them if I
never had chickenpox. Recently I want to
start volunteering at a local hospital,
and it requires some immunization data.
Since I had no record of exact date on
when I got my chickenpox, doctor recommend
me to take blood test to check if my body
is immuned to chicken pox. The blood test
shows that I have no antibody for the
virus, which puzzles me.
How is this possible? Does anyone heard
of something like this can happened?
