| Medical Dictionary |
A Medical Dictionary of Medical Terminology
|
Chickenpox is an infection caused by the varicella-zoster virus. Most cases are in children under age 15, but older children and adults can get it. It spreads very easily from one person to another.
The classic symptom of chickenpox is an uncomfortable, itchy rash. The rash turns into fluid-filled blisters and eventually into scabs. It usually shows up on the face, chest, and back and then spreads to the rest of the body. Other symptoms include:
Chickenpox is usually mild and lasts 5 to 10 days. Calamine lotions and oatmeal baths can help with itching. Acetaminophen can treat the fever. Do not use aspirin for chickenpox; that combination can cause Reye syndrome.
Chickenpox can sometimes cause serious problems. Adults, babies, teenagers, pregnant women, and those with weak immune systems tend to get sicker from it. They may need to take antiviral medicines.
Once you catch chickenpox, the virus usually stays in your body. You probably will not get chickenpox again, but the virus can cause shingles in adults. A chickenpox vaccine can help prevent most cases of chickenpox, or make it less severe if you do get it.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Shingles (herpes zoster) is an infection that causes a painful rash. It is caused by the varicella-zoster virus (VZV). This is the same virus that causes chickenpox. After you have chickenpox, the virus stays in your body. It may not cause problems for many years. But as you get older, the virus may become active again and cause shingles.
Is shingles contagious?Shingles is not contagious. You cannot get shingles from someone else. But you can catch chickenpox from someone with shingles if you have direct contact with fluid from their shingles rash.
The risk of spreading the virus is low if the shingles rash is kept covered. People with shingles cannot spread the virus before their rash blisters appear or after the rash crusts.
Who is at risk for shingles?Anyone who has had chickenpox can get shingles. But the risk of shingles goes up as you get older. Shingles is most common in people over age 50.
People with weakened immune systems are at higher risk of getting shingles. This includes those who:
Your immune system may be weaker when you have an infection or are stressed. This can raise your risk of shingles.
It is rare, but possible, to get shingles more than once.
What are the symptoms of shingles?Early signs of shingles include burning or shooting pain and tingling or itching. It is usually on one side of the body or face. The pain can be mild to severe.
Up to several days later, you will get a rash. It consists of blisters that typically scab over in 7 to 10 days. The rash is usually a single stripe around either the left or the right side of the body. In other cases, the rash is only on one side of the face. In rare cases (usually among people with weakened immune systems), the rash may be more widespread. It might look similar to a chickenpox rash.
Some people may also have other symptoms:
Shingles can cause other problems (complications):
Very rarely, shingles can also lead to pneumonia, brain inflammation (encephalitis), or death.
How is shingles diagnosed?Usually your health care provider can diagnose shingles by taking your medical history and looking at your rash. In some cases, your provider may scrap off tissue from the rash or swab some fluid from the blisters and send the sample to a lab for testing.
What are the treatments for shingles?There is no cure for shingles. Antiviral medicines may help to make the attack shorter and less severe. They may also help prevent PHN. The medicines are most effective if you can take them within 3 days after the rash appears. So if you think you might have shingles, contact your provider as soon as possible.
Pain relievers may also help with the pain. A cool washcloth, calamine lotion, and oatmeal baths may help relieve some of the itching.
Can shingles be prevented?There is a vaccine, called Shingrix, to help prevent shingles and its complications. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that healthy adults 50 years and older get the vaccine. Your provider might also recommend the vaccine if you are over 19 and have a weakened immune system. The vaccine is given in two doses.
If you have shingles, you can help prevent spreading the virus to others by:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Blisters are fluid-filled sacs on the outer layer of your skin. They form because of rubbing, heat, or diseases of the skin. They are most common on your hands and feet.
Other names for blisters are vesicles (usually for smaller blisters) and bulla (for larger blisters).
What causes blisters?Blisters often happen when there is friction - rubbing or pressure - on one spot. For example, if your shoes don't fit quite right and they keep rubbing part of your foot. Or if you don't wear gloves when you rake leaves and the handle keeps rubbing against your hand. Other causes of blisters include:
Blisters will usually heal on their own. The skin over the blister helps keep out infections. You can put a bandage on the blister to keep it clean. Make sure that there is no more rubbing or friction on the blister.
You should contact your health care provider if:
Normally you don't want to drain a blister, because of the risk of infection. But if a blister is large, painful, or looks like it will pop on its own, you can drain the fluid.
Can blisters be prevented?There are some things you can do to prevent friction blisters:
Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a virus found around the world. It is related to the viruses that cause chickenpox and infectious mononucleosis (mono). Between 50% and 80% of adults in the United States have had a CMV infection by age 40. Once CMV is in a person's body, it stays there for life.
CMV is spread through close contact with body fluids. Most people with CMV don't get sick and don't know that they've been infected. But infection with the virus can be serious in babies and people with weak immune systems. If a woman gets CMV when she is pregnant, she can pass it on to her baby. Usually the babies do not have health problems. But some babies can develop lifelong disabilities.
A blood test can tell whether a person has ever been infected with CMV. Most people with CMV don't need treatment. If you have a weakened immune system, your doctor may prescribe antiviral medicine. Good hygiene, including proper hand washing, may help prevent infections.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Encephalitis is inflammation (swelling) of the brain. It can happen when an infection or medical condition that affects the brain activates your immune system. The inflammation can cause a wide range of symptoms. In extreme cases, it can lead to brain damage, stroke, or even death.
What causes encephalitis?There are different types of encephalitis, based on what the cause is. The two main types are infectious encephalitis and autoimmune encephalitis.
Infectious encephalitis is usually caused by a virus. In fact, viruses are the most common cause of encephalitis. Some of the different viruses that cause it include:
Bacteria, fungi, and parasites can also cause infectious encephalitis. But this is not common.
Autoimmune encephalitis happens when your immune system mistakenly attacks healthy brain cells. It can be triggered by conditions such as certain cancers, benign tumors, and infections. Sometimes the cause is not known.
Who is more likely to get encephalitis?Anyone can get encephalitis, but you are more likely to get it if you:
The symptoms of encephalitis can vary a lot, depending on how severe it is. Many people do not have any symptoms. Others may have mild flu-like symptoms such as fever, fatigue, headache, or body aches. If encephalitis becomes more serious, it can cause:
Encephalitis can be dangerous in infants. Their symptoms may include:
If you or your child is having symptoms of encephalitis, it's important to get medical care right away.
How is encephalitis diagnosed?To find out if you have encephalitis, your health care provider:
Most people with encephalitis will need treatment in the hospital. Depending on the cause, treatments may include antiviral medicines, antibiotics, corticosteroids, and other medicines.
For some types of encephalitis, there is no medicine to treat it. But rest, nutrition, and fluids can help your body fight the infection and relieve symptoms.
Some people may need physical, speech, and occupational therapy once the illness is under control.
Can encephalitis be prevented?There are steps you can take to help prevent encephalitis that is caused by infections:
NIH: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
Prenatal testing provides information about your baby's health before he or she is born. Some routine tests during pregnancy also check on your health. At your first prenatal visit, your health care provider will test for a number of things, including problems with your blood, signs of infections, and whether you are immune to rubella (German measles) and chickenpox.
Throughout your pregnancy, your health care provider may suggest a number of other tests, too. Some tests are suggested for all women, such as screenings for gestational diabetes, Down syndrome, and HIV. Other tests might be offered based on your:
There are two types of tests:
It is your choice whether or not to get the prenatal tests. You and your health care provider can discuss the risks and benefits of the tests, and what kind of information the tests can give you. Then you can decide which ones are right for you.
Dept. of Health and Human Services Office on Women's Health
A scar is a permanent patch of skin that grows over a wound. It forms when your body heals itself after a cut, scrape, burn, or sore. You can also get scars from surgery that cuts through the skin, infections like chickenpox, or skin conditions like acne. Scars are often thicker, as well as pinker, redder, or shinier, than the rest of your skin.
How your scar looks depends on:
Scars usually fade over time but never go away completely. If the way a scar looks bothers you, various treatments might minimize it. These include surgical revision, dermabrasion, laser treatments, injections, chemical peels, and creams.
Vaccines are injections (shots), liquids, pills, or nasal sprays that you take to teach the immune system to recognize and defend against harmful germs. The germs could be viruses or bacteria.
Some types of vaccines contain germs that cause disease. But the germs have been killed or weakened enough that they won't make your child sick. Some vaccines only contain a part of a germ. Other types of vaccines include instructions for your cells to make a protein of the germ.
These different vaccine types all spark an immune response, which helps the body fight off the germs. Your child's immune system will also remember the germ and attack it if that germ ever invades again. This protection against a certain disease is called immunity.
Why do I need to vaccinate my child?Babies are born with immune systems that can fight most germs, but there are some serious diseases they can't handle. That's why they need vaccines to strengthen their immune system.
These diseases once killed or harmed many infants, children, and adults. But now with vaccines, your child can get immunity from these diseases without having to get sick. And for a few vaccines, getting vaccinated can actually give you a better immune response than getting the disease would.
Vaccinating your child also protects others. Normally, germs can travel quickly through a community and make a lot of people sick. If enough people get sick, it can lead to an outbreak. But when enough people are vaccinated against a certain disease, it's harder for that disease to spread to others. The entire community is less likely to get the disease. This is called "community immunity."
Community immunity is especially important for the people who can't get certain vaccines. For example, they may not be able to get a vaccine because they have weakened immune systems. Others may be allergic to certain vaccine ingredients. And newborn babies are too young to get some vaccines. Community immunity can help to protect them all.
Are vaccines safe for children?Vaccines are safe. They must go through extensive safety testing and evaluation before they are approved in the United States.
Some people worry that childhood vaccines could cause autism spectrum disorder (ASD). But many scientific studies have looked at this and have found no link between vaccines and autism.
Can vaccines overload my child's immune system?No, vaccines do not overload the immune system. Every day, a healthy child's immune system successfully fights off thousands of germs. When your child gets vaccines, they are getting weakened or dead germs. So even if they get several vaccines in one day, they are being exposed to a tiny amount of germs compared to what they encounter every day in their environment.
When do I need to vaccinate my child?Your child will get vaccines during well-child visits. They will be given according to the vaccine schedule. This schedule lists which vaccines are recommended for children. It includes who should get the vaccines, how many doses they need, and at what age they should get them. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) publishes the vaccine schedule.
Following the vaccine schedule allows your child to get protection from the diseases at exactly the right time. It gives their body the chance to build up immunity before being exposed to these very serious diseases.
Viruses are very tiny germs. They are made of genetic material (either DNA or RNA) inside of a protein coating. There are a huge number of viruses on earth. Only a small number of them can infect humans. Those viruses can infect our cells, which may cause disease. Some of the diseases that viruses can cause include the common cold, the flu, COVID-19, and HIV.
How are viruses spread?Viruses can be spread in different ways:
Viruses are like hijackers. They invade living, normal cells. They then use those cells to multiply (make copies of themselves). This process is also called replication. The process can kill, damage, or change the infected cells. Sometimes this can make you sick. The symptoms can range from mild to very severe. Other times, your immune system may be able to fight it off and you may not have any symptoms.
Each different virus usually only infects one type of cell in your body. For example, hepatitis viruses affect the cells in the liver. HIV infects a certain type of immune system cell.
What are the treatments for viral infections?For most viral infections, treatments can only help with symptoms while you wait for your immune system to fight off the virus. There are antiviral medicines to treat some viral infections. Antibiotics do not work for viral infections.
Can viral infections be prevented?Vaccines can help prevent you from getting many viral diseases. You may be able to prevent some viral infections by: