Chicken pox
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The incubation period is 11-20 days, usually 2 weeks.
Koplic's spots precede the maculopapular eruption of measles.
The fever generally lasts about a week and settles as the last crop of spots appears.
The use of acyclovir in uncomplicated chicken pox is controversial. Systemic acyclovir should be used in complicated chicken pox, particularly in adults. Recognised complications of chicken pox include impetigo, pneumonitis, encephalitis and thrombocytopaenia.
Non-immunes can acquire chicken pox from people with either chicken pox or shingles. Shingles occurs when immunity is lowered in a person who has suffered from chicken pox in the past.
