Question

What is the incubation period for chickenpox?
A. 11 to 15 days
B. 10 to 21 days
C. 1 to 3 days
D. 12 to 24 days

Answer 1

Hint: Chickenpox is an infectious disease caused by the contagious Varicella-zoster virus. The symptoms start to appear after the incubation period of the virus in the host organism’s body is over.

Complete answer:The incubation period takes about 10 to 21 days, i.e. two- weeks after the exposure of a person to chickenpox and to develop the symptoms of the disease. The most common symptom of the disease is the presence of itchy skin rashes with blisters in red colour. In a period of a few days, the blisters begin to pop and start to leak. The incubation period of any virus can be defined as the time period between people getting exposed to the virus till the symptoms of the disease are shown. This is the time in which the viral cells inside the host body starts its replication, the responses of the host to the new cells, by the release of certain chemicals such as the cytokines, produces the above said symptoms. A person infected with chicken-pox is contagious and can pass on the disease to others in contact, beginning 1 to 2 days before the rashes appeared, until all the lesions have got suppressed and crusted. Most of the individuals gain immunity to the disease for life once infected, while vaccinations are currently available for disease prevention.

Thus, from the above-given options, the correct answer in B that is 10 to 21 days.

Note: A viral infection begins with the virus entering the host cells and starts proliferating at a harmful rate. It gets in control of the host cell’s mechanism of replication and starts producing new viral cells, competing with the host cells and eventually killing them. The various symptoms occurring to viral infection may be due to the cell or tissue damage or due to the host’s immune response.