Common, Contagious

Varicella, or chickenpox--the name most people know--is a viral disease that’s highly contagious, as parents of young children know. The onset of symptoms typically occurs between 10 to 20 days after exposure. Those symptoms include fever and the eruption of itchy red bumps that develop into blisters.

Parents have a relatively new tool to fight chickenpox--a vaccine approved for use in 1995. Children should be immunized when they are 12 to 18 months old.

Here are other facts about the illness in the U.S.:

* Number of cases in 1995, the most recent year for which some statistics are available: 120,624

* Number of cases per 100,000 in 1995: 118

* Number of deaths from 1979 to 1994 among:

Infants: 109

1- to 4-year-olds: 162

5- to 9-year-olds: 225

10- to 14-year-olds: 91

15- to 19-year-olds: 60

20- to 24-year-olds: 73

25- to 34-year-olds: 177

35- to 44-year-olds: 101

45- to 54-year-olds: 53

55- to 64-year-olds: 86

65 and older: 200

*

Sources: The National Center for Health Statistics, the Johns Hopkins Family Health Book (HarperCollins, 1999)