What are the symptoms of roseola? And those of chickenpox? How to distinguish them? And how to treat these diseases? A pediatrician answers you.
What is roseola?
“There roseola is a very common viral infection in young children. explains Dr. Célia Levavasseur, maternity pediatrician. “She gives a fever significant for 3-4 days without any other symptoms, with children often quite well. And when the fever breaks, lots of little ones buttons appear on the face and body. They do not itch, and disappear in a few days without leaving any traces. There is no treatment other than comfort if the fever is poorly tolerated by the child.”
What is chickenpox?
“There varicella is a viral disease extremely contagious! Being in the same room as a sick person with vesicles is enough to be contaminated. The children have a fairly high fever, and buttons with vesicles in the middle. It looks like little bubbles or water blisters as grandmothers would say. Then, the pimples will turn into scabs, and perhaps leave scars.
THE chickenpox pimples itches a lot, there are several outbreaks of pimples over several days. The treatment consists of avoiding the scratching of the pimples, and therefore the superinfection and the risk of scarring: cut nails short, give medication to prevent the child from scratching, and apply a very oily moisturizer to the lesions to prevent scabs.” advises Dr. Levavasseur.
How to tell the difference between roseola and chickenpox?
Roseola and chickenpox are two diseases that are quite different from each other. To know how to differentiate them, just look at the appearance of the buttons. Roseola blisters are small and pink, while chickenpox blisters have fluid-filled blisters in the center.
Additionally, the button timeline is also not the same. During roseola they only appear once the fever has fallen, while during chickenpox they appear in several outbreaks, at the same time as the fever.
“The risk is also different” explains Dr Célia Levavasseur “roseola is harmless, while chickenpox can develop into a serious form, or leave scars. In addition, once we have had chickenpox, the virus remains hidden in our body and can come out in the form of a shingleslater in our life”.
Sources:
Dr Célia Levavasseur pediatrician in maternity, Health Insurance, Vidal
Read also :
⋙ Roseola: contagion, symptoms, recognizing spots, treatments
⋙ Roseola: how to recognize the symptoms in babies and children?
⋙ Chickenpox epidemic: the right reflexes to adopt if your child has caught it