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chickenpox
(chik´әn-poks)
an acute, highly contagious, viral disease characterized by a blistering maculopapular skin eruption with mild constitutional
symptoms. It is a common childhood disease and is rarely severe, but in infants and some adults there may be more severe symptoms;
in immunocompromised patients it can spread to internal organs and be fatal. It is usually spread by either contact with blisters or droplet infection,
and the average incubation period is 10 to 16 days. The causative virus is human herpesvirus 3, which also causes herpes zoster (shingles), with the differences in the two diseases probably reflecting differences in the response to the virus. Chickenpox
may begin with a slight fever, headache, backache, and loss of appetite. Small red spots appear with severe itching, usually
on the back and chest first. Within a few hours the spots enlarge and a blister filled with clear fluid appears in the center
of each one, surrounded by an area of reddened skin. In a few days, the fluid turns yellow and a crust or scab forms, and
that peels off in one to three weeks. Called also varicella.
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