Don’t Share Food With Chickenpox Patients —Doctor

Dr Amupitan Rotimi, a general practitioner, has warned people against sharing food or drinks with persons who have chickenpox, a highly contagious disease.

Rotimi told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja that chickenpox could easily be contacted through eating or sharing body fluids with an infected person.

“It is spread easily and quickly through coughs and sneezes of an infected person.” He described chickenpox as a common illness that causes itchy rashes and red spots or blisters all over the body.

According to him, chickenpox is most common in children, stressing that most people will be infected at some point in their lives if they have not been vaccinated against it.

He noted that the disease could cause severe problems for pregnant women, newborns, adults and people who have low immunity.

Rotimi said a person who has chickenpox could spread the virus even before he or she has any symptoms. “Chickenpox is easily spread from two to three days before the rash appears until all the blisters have crusted over. ”

He explained that people who never had the illness and have not taken the chickenpox vaccine were of greater risk of contacting the infection.

Rotimi listed fever, headache, sore throat, body weakness as the major symptoms of the infection, adding that the rash usually appears about one or two days after the start of symptoms.

He advised people with weak immune system like newborns and pregnant women to always stay away from people suffering from the disease to avoid contact.

He said immunisation remained the surest antidote against the infection and urged parents to ensure that their children were immunised.