Adults are also susceptible to chickenpox, especially pregnant women. In particular, adults with chickenpox are more susceptible to complications and have a higher mortality rate than children.

Recently, in our country, the diseaseChickenpox tends to increase rapidly and has unpredictable developments. Especially in humid weather conditions, it is an opportunity for viruses to develop and spread quickly, including the Varicella zoster virus that causes chickenpox. Chickenpox is a contagious and common disease in children, most commonly found in children under 10 years old... However, the medical community has just issued a warning that adults are also susceptible to chickenpox, especially pregnant women. In particular, adults with chickenpox are susceptible to complications and have a higher mortality rate than children.

Chickenpox is transmitted mainly through the respiratory tract. When a person with chickenpox speaks, sneezes or coughs, the virus is released into dust along with saliva and nasal discharge. Others who inhale this dust will be infected, so the disease can easily become an epidemic. The main symptom of the disease is blister-like lesions on the skin and mucous membranes. After the virus enters the body, it takes about 10 - 20 days (called the incubation period) for the patient to show symptoms of a person infected with the virus (fatigue, headache, mild fever, runny nose, sore throat and itching, loss of appetite, etc.). At this time, red rashes with a diameter of a few millimeters may appear on the patient's skin, starting in the head and eyes and spreading all over the body. After that, the rash develops into blisters with fluid inside, then gradually become cloudy, have pus and after 8 - 10 hours, they burst and form scabs. Many chickenpox blisters are a warning sign that the disease may progress severely. The disease lasts from 7 to 10 days. If there are no complications, the chickenpox will gradually dry up, flake off, and the skin where the blisters appeared will darken, leaving no scars. However, if the blisters become infected, they may leave scars.

In adults who have recently had chickenpox, the illness may be more severe and take longer to recover. Adults are also more likely to have complications than children.

Need to prevent complications of chickenpox

Usually, chickenpox is a benign disease. But the disease can also cause dangerous complications. Complications of chickenpox are:

Superinfection in skin lesions: When the chickenpox blisters are broken or scratched due to the patient's itching and scratching, it can cause inflammation, skin infection, pyoderma, impetigo, and even acute glomerulonephritis...

Chickenpox pneumonia: Pneumonia complications are more common in adults than in children and usually appear on the 3rd - 5th day of the disease (during the chickenpox outbreak). Pneumonia can progress mildly and recover, but can also progress severely: symptoms include high fever, rapid breathing, difficulty breathing, cyanosis, chest pain, coughing up blood... leading to respiratory failure, pulmonary edema and life-threatening.

Central nervous system damage: In rare cases, chickenpox can lead to complications such as meningitis and encephalitis, which are common in adults. The mortality rate is high, accounting for 5-20%. Even if the patient is saved, they can still have severe sequelae or have to live a vegetative life for the rest of their days.

A common late complication of chickenpox is shingles, also known as herpes zoster, which is a late recurrence of chickenpox many years after infection. Shingles also has dangerous complications such as: nerve pain, corneal ulcers, blindness...

Who is at risk of complications from chickenpox?

The following subjects are susceptible to chickenpox and when infected are susceptible to complications: pregnant women; people with weak immune systems (such as people with acute or chronic leukemia, cancer patients, lupus erythematosus, people with HIV); patients taking immunosuppressive drugs such as corticosteroids; people in groups at risk of exposure to the Varicella zoster virus...

Chickenpox in pregnant women

If the pregnant woman has been vaccinated or had chickenpox before pregnancy, she is immune to the disease because her body has antibodies against the disease. For pregnant women who are not vaccinated and have chickenpox during pregnancy, they may have a miscarriage and the effects of the disease on the fetus depend on the stage of pregnancy. Mothers who have chickenpox when they are less than 20 weeks pregnant will give birth to a child with a small percentage (about 2%) of congenital chickenpox syndrome. Symptoms of this syndrome can be: skin scars, low birth weight, eye diseases (cataracts, retinal damage...), short limbs, small head, mental retardation... After the 20th week of pregnancy, it has almost no effect on the fetus.

Perinatal varicella: If the mother has chickenpox from 5 days before to 2 days after giving birth, the newborn will be susceptible to infection and often has a severe illness leading to high mortality, with a rate of up to 25 - 30% of infected cases. If the mother has chickenpox more than 1 week before giving birth, the course is benign, the baby will receive IgG antibodies from the mother, when the baby is born, the baby will have antibodies so it is not dangerous.

Should proactively prevent disease

Chickenpox is highly contagious. Patients can spread the disease to others 5 days before and after the rash appears and are no longer contagious once the blisters have crusted over. The disease can also be transmitted indirectly through contact with clothing or other objects contaminated with fluid from an infected person's blisters.

Everyone can proactively prevent chickenpox by getting vaccinated. This is the safest and most effective measure. The vaccine has been proven to be highly effective (over 97%) and lasts a lifetime. To prevent chickenpox from affecting the fetus, women of childbearing age or those intending to become pregnant should proactively get vaccinated against chickenpox. The best time to get vaccinated is 3 months before getting pregnant.

Contact with sick people should be limited. When contact is necessary, wear a mask. After contact, wash hands immediately with soap. Pregnant women in particular should absolutely avoid contact with sick people and epidemic areas.

Chickenpox can be completely cured without leaving any sequelae if detected early and treated properly. When you or your family members show signs of chickenpox, you should see a doctor immediately and self-isolate to avoid spreading it to the community.