Some of the first signs of chickenpox in children actually show up a few days before obvious symptoms develop. Two or three days before the children actually get bumps, they can develop some flu-like symptoms, including fever, headache, fatigue, and nausea. After that, the next signs of chickenpox in children are the blisters. These will typically show up on the head and face area first and eventually spread everywhere on the child's body, although it isn’t unheard of for them to show up on the torso first.
When the blisters first appear, they will be incredibly itchy, and children have a hard time resisting the urge to scratch them. As time passes, the itching will ease off, and the sores will eventually burst. After that, the sores gradually scab over and heal. It’s very unusual for the sores to leave behind scars, but it’s not unheard of, and some parents choose to clip their children’s nails very short when they show signs of chickenpox as a precaution.
Most of the time when dealing with chickenpox in children, doctors don’t choose to do any major treatment. There is usually an attempt to keep the children relatively comfortable with lotions and special baths, but since chickenpox comes from a viral infection, the illness generally has to run its course and go away on its own. There are some antiviral medications that can be used as a treatment for chickenpox in children, but doctors avoid using them because they have limited effectiveness, and there are some nasty potential side-effects.
Chickenpox in children is actually a better scenario typically than chickenpox in adults. With children, chicken pox is rarely ever serious, but in adults, severe complications are much more likely. When adults get chickenpox, they often develop shingles, which is much more serious and can lead to permanent nerve damage, among other things. If a woman contracts chickenpox during a pregnancy, she should generally be very cautious, because she has a greater risk of complications, and birth defects are also likely.
In a normal scenario, chickenpox in children only lasts about a week. In most cases, the symptoms don’t actually show up for almost 20 days after the initial exposure, and children are usually contagious a few days before the actual blisters show up. Chickenpox tends to be a very contagious illness, and it will normally spread like wildfire among siblings and schoolmates until every possible person has been exposed. Children who’ve been vaccinated have a great advantage in these situations, but the vaccine isn’t foolproof, and many vaccinated children will develop symptoms at least to a mild degree.
