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BASICS
Description
- Common, highly contagious generalized exanthem characterized by the development of crops of pruritic vesicles on the skin and mucous membranes.
- Fever in up to 70% of persons.
- Virus is spread by respiratory (airborne) droplets, direct contact with varicella vesicles, or rarely zoster lesions.
- Virus establishes latency in the dorsal root ganglia; reactivation results in herpes zoster or “shingles.”
- Outbreaks tend to occur late winter to early spring in temperate climates.
- The usual incubation period is 14–16 days (range, 10–21). Patients are infectious from ~48 hours before appearance of the rash until the final lesions have crusted. Historically, most people acquire chickenpox during childhood and develop lifelong immunity. (1) Now it is an immunizable disease.
- System(s ...
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