Chicken pox is a highly infectious disease caused by Herpes virus (Varicella - Zoster Virus or VZV).The medical name for this disease is Varicella.It chiefly affects children under 10 years of age but can also occur in adults.

Symptoms
After an incubation period of 14-21 days, the following symptoms are usually observed:
1)A mild fever, with slight shivering followed after about 24 hours, an itchy rash of red pimples that soon change to pustules.
2)The pustules start on the trunk or scalp and spread t the face and limbs; they crust over and resolve after about 12 days.

Treatment
1)Patient should be isolated till the crusts have disappeared
2)Antiseptic baths can help to reduce secondary bacterial infection
3)Oral antihistamines and Calamine lotion (allied on skin) ca be used to relieve itching
4)Antipyretics can be used to decrease the fever.
5)For secondary infections,appropriate antibiotics can be taken.

Prophylaxis
Kids can be protected from VZV by getting the chickenpox (varicella) vaccine, usually between the ages of 12 to 15 months. In 2006, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended a booster shot at 4 to 6 years old for further protection. The CDC also recommends that people 13 years of age and older who have never had chickenpox or received chickenpox vaccine get two doses of the vaccine at least 28 days apart.

In case of children, parents should take extra measures, such as :

1)Keep the child with the disease away from others specially healthy siblings or pregnant women.
2)Prevent the child from scratching the pustules as this will cause scars and make it more worse.
If necessary , cut his or her nails.
3)Be cooperative and help the child during this time, explaining about the disease and support in anything the child needs or feels.

Usually one attack confers lifelong immunity, although the virus may reactivate at a later age and cause a more harmful form of chicken pox- Shingles.

Shingles
Shingles or Herpes Zoster is caused by the Varicella-Zoster virus

Cause
Following an attack of chicken pox, the virus lays dormant in the dorsal root ganglia of the spinal cord.Later, under one of a number of influences, the virus migrates down the sensory nerve to affect one or more deep layers of skin or tissue.

Symptoms
1)Characteristic Shingle rash (Similar to chicken pox rash,but more severe)
2)One side of the face or eye (opthalmic zoster) may be affected.
3)In the elder, Shingles may be chronically painful and can cause a disease called Ramsay Hunt Syndrome
This disease affects the facial nerves and may cause facial paralysis and loss of taste.
it also causes pin in the war and affects other parts supplied by the nerve.

Treatment
Treatment of all forms of Herpes is with an appropriate preparation of Aciclovir or related antiviral drugs;Shingles may require potent analgesics.

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