Patients are considered Infectious with varicella if any one of the following conditions is met.

By the airborne route.

 Primary Varicella Infection with a generalized rash (chicken pox)

 Disseminated Herpes Zoster (shingles) defined as involvement of more than one nerve
root distribution.
 Herpes Zoster (shingles) in an immunosuppressed patient

By the contact route

 Direct skin to skin contact with the vesicles of any infected person

A person is considered to be exposed to varicella if he/she does not have a mask on and has
contact with a person with varicella for at least five minutes at a time when the person with
varicella is unmasked. Patients with chickenpox are most contagious for 1 to 2 days before
and shortly after the onset of the rash, but contagiousness may persist until all the lesions
have crusted (approximately 5 days).

What should I do if a someone is exposed?

If a someone is exposed to someone with varicella (chickenpox) and isimmune, he/she does
not need to alter any activities. He/she should not develop chickenpox and cannot spread the
disease to others.

If a someone is exposed to someone with chickenpox and is not immune, he/she may develop
chickenpox and be contagious to others. The incubation period (the time between exposure to
infection and the appearance of the first symptom) is 10-21 days, generally 12-14 days after
exposure. Since a person is contagious to others for up to two days before the characteristic
rash appears, he/she should be isolated for 8-21 days after the exposure.