What you should know about chickenpox in adults

Research shows that chickenpox, an infectious disease caused by the varicella-zoster virus, is not unique to children. According to these surveys, 9.9% of chickenpox cases occur in people between the ages of 15 and 44, and 1.1% are older than that age.

Carmen Sánchez Peinador, a member of the Infectious Disease Working Group of the Spanish Society of General Practitioners and Family Doctors (SEMG), explains that chickenpox is highly contagious and can easily be transmitted from a patient to someone who has never or has never had it. People with chickenpox. Vaccinated. It can be spread through direct contact with the virus or through infected air droplets.

How is chickenpox spread?

The infection begins a day or two before the rash appears and continues until all lesions have crusted over. Even vaccinated people infected with the disease may be contagious until no new lesions appear for 24 hours.

Pilar Camacho Conde, a pediatrician at IHP Alcalá de Guadaíra (Seville), emphasizes that the age group most affected by chickenpox is those between 1 and 10 years old. However, when it occurs in older children or adults, it is usually more severe and has more complications.

Is chickenpox more serious in adults than in children?

In adults and immunocompromised people, such as those with leukemia, lymphoma, or HIV infection, chickenpox tends to be more severe and longer-lasting than in healthy children. In the latter case, the illness usually lasts three to five days and is benign.

The most serious complications of chickenpox in adults are encephalitis (which can be fatal) and pneumonia, the latter of which is more common in adolescents and adults than in children. Other problems that may arise include impetigo or skin superinfection (almost always caused by scratching) and cerebellar ataxia, although the latter is less common.

Experts recommend using fever-reducing medications when you have a fever and antihistamines to relieve itching when treating chickenpox. However, they stressed that patients at risk for severe disease, people over 13 years old, people with chronic skin or lung disease, and people who are immunosuppressed should receive antiviral medication.

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