Chicken Pox Origin

Chicken pox was first depicted by Giovanni Filippo(1510-1580) but an English physician namely Richard Morton thought that it was a kind of small pox in 1600s whereas this thought was contradicted by another physician from England, William Heberden, who proved that chicken pox and small pox were entirely different. Samuel Johnson told that since the disease was less dangerous, it was described as chicken.

The word chicken pox came from an English word “gican” which meant “Itching” or a French word “chiche-pois” meaning chicks pea which described the size of lesions which were similar to the size of the seeds. In medieval period some people believed that it was plague and it involved black magic and was specially done on children as a curse. During this period oatmeal was used as a resource for soothing the sores.

Chicken pox is a communicable disease and is a kind of viral infection which affects children in major but adult cases do happen. The virus is known by varicella-zoster virus which spreads by air while inhaling the contaminated air. If a person suffering from chicken pox coughs or sneezes, the virus will spread in the air and will get in contact with healthy person giving him or her, the infection. Touching and coming in direct contact with disease prone person can also result in infection.

Chicken pox mainly occurs in winters and spring. Chicken pox symptoms are sometimes noticeable and sometimes they are not. Some of its symptoms are mild fever, rashes and small red itchy spots that convert into round blisters on various body parts. It mainly affects chest, mouth, scalp and back of your body.

Negligence to this disease can result in serious brain problems. During the treatment of the disease patient is given bath in every 3 to 4 hours with oat meal mixed in water to lower down the itching. Infected person should wash his\her hands as many times as possible because blisters are filled with fluid and may cause infection. Lots of water should be given to prevent loss of water.

Lastly prevent yourself from getting infected by this disease as it’s really dangerous. Try to keep yourself and your environment clean and stay away from the person suffering from chicken pox so that you do not catch the disease. In order to prevent chicken pox, vaccinations are provided by the doctors after birth so that child does not face the problem of chicken pox in future. Remember “prevention is better than cure”.