Question

write very briefly about chickenpox and hepatitis A

Answer 1

Varicella (Latin). One of the traditionally recognised childhood exanthems, caused by Herpes varicella-zoster virus, a systemic viral illness characterised by widespread vesicles. Like other herpes viruses, it retains the ability to lie dormant in ganglions after initial infection, possibly reactivating in the future as Herpes Zoster (aka shingles).

It is regarded as a 'trivial' (though not for the sufferer!), self-limiting childhood illness, but is often complicated by secondary bacterial infection of the vesicles, and can itself cause severe disease in both immunocompetent and immunocompromised eg encephalitis and pneumonitis. The question is important in considering the merits of the vaccine.