Symptoms

The time between exposure to the virus and eruption of symptoms (or incubation period) is between 10 and 20 days. The patient often develops fever, headache, swollen glands, and other flu-like symptoms before the typical rash appears. While fevers are low grade in most children, some can reach up to 105° F.

The patient generally begins to feel better once the rash breaks out. One or more tiny raised red bumps appear first, most often on the face, chest or abdomen. They become larger within a few hours and spread quickly, eventually forming small blisters on a red base. They have been described as dewdrops on rose petals. The numbers of blisters vary widely; some patients have only a few spots, others can develop hundreds. Each blister is filled with clear fluid that becomes cloudy in several days. It takes about four days for each blister to dry out and form a scab. During its course, the rash itches, sometimes severely. Usually separate crops of blisters occur over four to seven days, and the entire disease process lasts between seven and 10 days.

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Chickenpox itself usually occurs only once, although a few cases of mild second infections, marked by the telltale rash, have been reported in older children years after their first infection.

Symptoms of a Typical Shingles (Herpes Zoster) Attack

Shingles nearly always occurs in adults. It develops on one side of the body. Usually two, and sometimes three, identifiable symptom stages occur:

• The first is known as the prodrome, which are a cluster of warning symptoms that appear before the outbreak of the infection.
• The second stage comprises the symptoms of the active infection itself.
• In many patients, a third syndrome known as postherpetic neuralgia develops.