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Description

Varicella (Chicken Pox) is a viral disease that causes an itchy rash

Symptoms

A skin rash of blister-like lesions, usually on the face, scalp, or trunk

Complications

Bacterial infection of the skin, swelling of the brain, and pneumonia (usually more severe in children 13 or older and adults)

Transmission

Spread by coughing and sneezing (highly contagious), or by direct contact with lesions

Vaccine

Varicella vaccine can prevent this disease.

As an adult, do I need it?

You SHOULD get the varicella vaccine if you do not have a reliable history of having had chickenpox or shingles, especially if:

• You are a health care worker, teach young children, a day care worker, a resident or staff member in an institutional setting, a college student, an inmate or staff member of a correctional institution, in the military, or if you travel internationally, or

• You are a woman of childbearing age who is sure you are not pregnant (Pregnant women should not receive the varicella vaccine.), or

• You have only had one dose of varicella vaccine

**You do NOT need the chickenpox vaccine if:

• You have a reliable history of having had chickenpox, or

• You have blood tests that show you are immune to varicella, or

• You already had two doses of chickenpox vaccine, or

• You were born in the U.S. before 1980, or

• You have a reliable history of herpes zoster (shingles).

Content Source: National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases & CDC

Vaccine Information Sheet

Varicella (Chicken Pox) Fact Sheet English (pdf)

Varicella (Chicken Pox) Fact Sheet Spanish (pdf)