How does chickenpox start: the first signs

Although chickenpox is a common illness that many children get, it can be difficult to diagnose when it first appears. Because the early symptoms aren’t always obvious, parents may mistake it for a cold or other minor illness. By knowing what to look for, you can take the appropriate action to care for your child and catch it early.

Mild symptoms like a fever, fatigue, or a general feeling of being unwell usually accompany it in the beginning. These preliminary symptoms may manifest a day or two prior to the development of the obvious rash. At this point, a lot of parents assume their child is just sick from a common cold, but the true symptoms of chickenpox soon appear.

Once the rash develops, identifying chickenpox is considerably simpler. The easiest way to tell is to look for red spots that develop into itchy blisters. Usually, these blisters begin on the face, back, or chest and then spread to other parts of the body. Knowing these early indicators enables you to better prepare for and handle the illness.

What is chickenpox

The highly contagious infection known as "chickenpox," which is what parents and medical professionals have historically called it, causes fever, rash, and other symptoms. This illness is typically discovered in children between the ages of two and ten. One kind of herpes virus, the Varicella Zoster virus, is the cause of it.

Although infants are susceptible to infection and chickenpox, most babies under the age of six months are shielded from the illness by their mother’s immunity. Their mother contracted chickenpox as a child, and she passed on her antibodies to them through breast milk. It is possible for infants who are six months old to contract chickenpox because after that point, they are no longer immune to the illness from their mothers.

Check out the "Live Healthy"! program episode where host Elena Malysheva discusses childhood chickenpox:

The chickenpox virus also affects adults aged 10 to 12 years. However, since the infection is more severe in adults and adolescents, many parents do not mind if their preschoolers play with other children who have chickenpox or visit a doctor to receive a vaccination against it.

A child who has had chickenpox or received a vaccination against the Varicella Zoster virus develops antibodies in his body, giving him lifelong immunity to this infection for the remainder of his life. Re-infection is rare—it occurs in only 3% of cases and is frequently linked to immunodeficiency.

Incubation period

This window of time spans from the moment the virus enters the child’s body following infection until the onset of infection symptoms. In children, the average response to the question "How many days after contact does chickenpox appear?" is 14 days. The incubation period can last anywhere from seven days to twenty-one days, but on average, the illness begins two weeks after the initial viral contact.

Around 24 hours before the first symptoms appear, at the end of the incubation period, the child starts to spread the virus to other people. Furthermore, you may contract the infection from a child who has chickenpox for the duration of the rash and for five days following the final blisters on the infant’s skin. The disease is spread by airborne particulates.

Prodromal period

This is the term for the period of time during which it is challenging to determine the type of illness the child has. The duration of chickenpox is only one or two days, and in many children, it may not even occur. Mothers observe symptoms of malaise in their children during the prodromal stage of chickenpox, including weakness, sore throat, headache, muscle aches, loss of appetite, and difficulty sleeping.

View the video to see an excellent demonstration of the rashes that occur during the early stages of chickenpox in children:

Initially, chickenpox typically presents with mild symptoms such as a slight fever, fatigue, and appetite loss that are similar to those of a common cold. A day or two later, tiny red spots that soon develop into blisters filled with fluid give way to an itchy rash. Blisters have the potential to spread to any part of the body, including the back, chest, and face. Managing the condition and stopping its spread to others depend on your ability to recognize these early indicators.

Period of rashes

On the first or second day after the onset of clinical symptoms, the rash starts to appear. It is linked to the virus getting into the bloodstream and penetrating the skin’s outer layer. The child’s body temperature rises simultaneously, and the frequency of rash elements directly correlates with the intensity of the fever. The temperature also rises in response to the emergence of new rashes.

Where do rashes appear

The question of "where on the body does the rash begin to appear" worries all mothers, who are unsure if their child has chickenpox. In the majority of children, the rash begins on the body and progresses to the skin of the limbs as well as the head (first the face, then the scalp). In certain kids, the rash extends to the mucous membranes; in the mouth, for instance, pimples are visible.

Can it start from the legs

The head and legs may get the first chickenpox lesions, but these quickly spread to the rest of the body’s skin. Simultaneously, the hands and feet of the rash hardly show any rash. It mostly manifests in these regions in cases of severe illness.

A child with a mild case of chickenpox will typically have a few distinct rash areas on their body and a normal body temperature.

What does the rash look like

A series of elements appear one after the other to represent chickenpox rashes. Little pink-red spots cover the child’s body at first, and a few hours later, papules appear where the spots once were. These little lumps that resemble mosquito bites go by this name.

Single-chamber vesicles are identified by the gradual peeling off of the papules’ upper epidermis and the accumulation of a clear fluid within. A red "rim" of inflamed skin can be seen surrounding each of these bubbles.

Watch the video to learn how to differentiate allergies from chickenpox.

Typically, the chickenpox rash can itch a lot, so parents’ job is to keep their children from scratching, which can lead to blister infection.

The vesicles burst, and a crust quickly formed over the resulting ulcers. One to two days pass from the time the spot forms until the crust appears. It takes two to three weeks for the skin to fully heal and for the crusts to fall off.

When it begins to pass

Each child experiences the rash period for a different length of time. Some children have a rash that stops growing after two days, while other children have more severe symptoms that result in new blisters appearing nine days after the disease first appears. The onset of new lesions and vesicles usually ceases between the fifth and sixth day of the illness.

It’s critical to identify the early symptoms of chickenpox in order to control the illness and stop its spread. Typically, it begins with mild flu-like symptoms, like fever and fatigue, and then the rash turns characteristically itchy.

Even though it hurts, children typically only get mild cases of chickenpox. The healing process can go more smoothly if you keep your child at home, make sure they get enough sleep, and heed any advice from your doctor.

Early detection allows you to take prompt action to reduce symptoms and minimize complications, enabling you to provide your child with the necessary care.

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