Complications of chicken pox
Skin infection is the most common complication of chicken pox. Skin infections occur when bacteria from your skin or under your fingernails get into a chicken pox blister. Sometimes a skin infection from chicken pox can be serious.
Other complications of chicken pox are rare. They include:
- Varicella pneumonia. Pneumonia can develop if the chicken pox virus travels to your lungs. Pneumonia from chicken pox is most common in teens, adults, and pregnant women who have chicken pox in the last part of pregnancy. It is also more likely to develop in people who smoke cigarettes, have lifelong (chronic) lung diseases, or have impaired immune systems.
- Inflammation (swelling) of the brain, known as encephalitis. Encephalitis can develop about 5 to 10 days after the chicken pox rash appears. In children, encephalitis most often affects a specific part of the brain (cerebellum) and is called acute cerebellar ataxia. It mainly causes poor muscle coordination, although other symptoms of encephalitis can also occur. In adults, this complication is more likely to affect a bigger part of the brain and cause more severe symptoms. Encephalitis symptoms include confusion, a high fever, a severe headache, sleepiness, sensitivity to light, and nausea. In the most serious cases, a person may have seizures or tremors. Treatment may include medication to help relieve symptoms. Some people with encephalitis may need to stay in the hospital.
- Vision loss. Chicken pox virus that spreads into the clear eye covering (cornea) can leave scars that can cause vision loss.
- Reye's syndrome. Reye's syndrome can develop in young people who take ASA during chicken pox or flu treatment. It can be prevented by not giving ASA to anyone under the age of 20.
- Inflammation of the joints (arthritis). Sometimes people with chicken pox have pain in their muscles and joints. This pain usually lasts as long as the chicken pox rash. Medications taken for fever or other general illness often help ease the pain.
The following complications of chicken pox are very rare:
- Inflammation of the nerves of the eye (optic neuritis) or the spinal cord.
- Inflammation of the tissues surrounding the brain and spinal cord (meningitis).
- Nerve damage that causes problems with movement of the face or other parts of the body.
- Certain blood disorders, such as a decrease in the number of blood cells that help clot blood (thrombocytopenia).
- Death. Before introduction of the chicken pox vaccine in the United States in 1995, about 100 people died each year from chicken pox.1
Women who are pregnant when they have chicken pox are at risk of complications such as premature labour or varicella pneumonia, and the fetus is at risk of developing chicken pox. Fetuses with chicken pox are more likely to develop birth defects or other complications before and after birth. Newborn babies can also get chicken pox when their mother has the illness within a few days of delivery.
| Author: | Debby Golonka, MPH Ralph Poore | Last Updated: May 30, 2008 |
| Medical Review: | Adam Husney, MD - Family Medicine Michael J. Sexton, MD - Pediatrics Thomas Emmett Francoeur, MDCM, CSPQ, FRCPC - Pediatrics | |
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