VARICELLA ATTACK

This has been my longest holiday at home. Thanks (but no thanks) to Varicella zoster.

Varicella zoster. Nice name isn’t it? But unfortunately it is the bug that causes chicken pox & shingles (or “kayap” in Malay). The Chinese (Hakka) call it “Sang Sa”. In direct translation, that would be “grow snake”.

I remember having measles when I was young, but not chicken pox. About 6 or 7 years back, I stayed with 3 cousins (in Sandakan) who were having chicken pox. I was there for a month doing my Electives at the Duchess of Kent Hospital. When I got back to KK after the Electives, I developed vesicles on my face & body, which had lasted only a few days. There was no fever or other symptoms. I thought that was weird, but still possible in the case of “subclinical infection” for someone with partial immunity.

I can’t imagine I’m having a full blown disease now. I don’t remember being in contact with anyone with chicken pox recently. Even when I did before this, I did not develop any infection.

The only source that I can think of is a patient in the Male Surgical Ward. He was admitted for enterocutaneous fistula (an abnormal connection between the intestine & the abdominal wall) & stayed quite long in the hospital till he had surgery to correct the defect. He was on TPN (total parenteral nutrition) the whole time, which required him to have a central venous line (CVL).

The CVL had to be changed every 1 to 2 weeks to prevent infection. I was not the doctor taking care of him (as I was attached to the Female Ward) but I inserted the CVL for him once when all the other doctors in the Male Ward were busy. So after this one time, he would always request for me to do it instead of others. And each time, I would oblige if I wasn’t busy. One day, he developed shingles & was moved from the general ward to an isolation room. It was also time for the CVL to be changed!

I inserted the new line for him in the isolation room about a month ago. The incubation period (i.e. time of exposure to start of illness) for chicken pox is only 1 to 2 weeks, so perhaps he isn’t the source of infection after all. But having said that, my colleague Adibah, who is taking care of the Male Ward, developed the same infection just a few days after I did.

People say I’m too old to catch chicken pox at 30. Well, I know of a lady who got it at the age of 48! And my friend Adibah is just a year younger than me.

I took acyclovir (anti-viral therapy) within 2 hours of developing vesicles. I guess I was both paranoid & kiasu. For acyclovir to work, you have to start taking the medicine within 24 to 48 hours of symptoms.

2 days prior to that, I had headache, joint pains & felt feverish. I had just gotten back from Kuching then. I knew it was some kind of viral infection. A few different diagnoses came to my mind. One of them was viral meningitis. Thought maybe I had contracted it from my flight back to KK. So when the spots appeared, I was kind of relieved actually.

I received a lot of advice from friends & relatives about the do’s & don’ts when having chicken pox. These are some of the useful (?!) tips:

1) Cannot mandi
(Hah…are u sure ah cannot mandi? Die lah if like that. Some more the lesions are so damn itchy!)

2) Don’t take soy sauce as it will cause more scars. It will also darken the scars
(Errm…ya meh?)

3) Drink lots of coconut water (Apparently for “cooling effect”)
(My mum actually bought 3 coconuts on my 3rd day of infection)

4) Don’t go under the fan
(Wah so hot…where can tahan oh)

5) Drink plenty of fluids
(This one seems to be the most popular…)

6) Don’t scratch. It will cause ugly scars
(Of course I wouldn’t want that, would I?)

7) Put calamine lotion on your body
(That’s for the itch)

8) Buy lots of DVDs so you won’t be bored at home
(Haha…this is the best!)

9) Don’t eat seafood & eggs
(Why ah?)

10) Don’t take peanuts (To avoid having more lesions)
(Seriously?)

For the first week, I took shower with a certain bean plant (dried form). Like coconut water, it has the “cooling effect” & helps with the itch.

I guess the horrible thing about having chicken pox is the itch part. You just feel like scratching & scratching & scratching…. But I think I’ve done well though, with the help of anti-histamines of course. I hope this “battle” with Varicella is going to end soon & I’ll emerge the winner!

(Written in May 2006. I was house-bound for 3 long weeks.)