Since March and April is a time of festivals and examinations, chicken pox can be quite a disruption to you and your child's routine.

Here are some common questions you would want to know about this disease and what you can do about it:

Who can get chicken pox?

Anyone who has not got it before or anyone who has not taken vaccination can get chicken pox. Even newborn babies can get this disease.

Is chicken pox harmless?

Though chicken pox is not as dangerous when compared to measles, polio, cholera, or tetanus, complications do occur. These include skin infections, pneumonia, and brain inflammation. In pregnant woman, chicken pox can result in risks to the unborn child.

How does chicken pox spread?

Chicken pox spreads from an infected person by air to the susceptible individual. Remember, this disease is very infectious.

In fact, if in a room there are 100 people with no immunity to the disease, and if they are exposed to the virus, 85-99 of them stand a chance of contracting the disease.

Is it better to vaccinate or to get immunity from the natural disease?

Vaccines are always the best way to prevent disease and to acquire immunity. Usually, if you get chicken pox once, it is said that you will not get it again.

However, this can be unpredictable and uncontrolled. Complications do occur, and as a rule of the thumb, the older you are, the more severe the disease is.

In fact, adults are 10 times more likely to be hospitalised for the disease than children.