Health officials at the Dammam Central Hospital (DCH) have once again issued a warning on the possible increase of chicken pox incidences as heat and high humidity continue to climb during the remaining summer months. This year's first victom in the Eastern Province was Velayudhan Sudhi, a 44-year-old Indian shopkeeper. He died of chicken pox at the DCH, June 28. “He did not visit any doctors early until his chicken pox affliction became severe. He was hospitalized for 15 days with a high fever and he later developed pneumonia. When his condition became critical, hospital authorities shifted him to the Intensive Care Unit where he died,” DCH doctors said. Sudhi was working for Al-Atheeq Company in Dammam. He has been living in the Kingdom for 17 years. He left his wife Reena and two sons back in his hometown of Aluva city in India. Sudhi's remains are being kept at DCH. Two expatriates died of chicken pox last year in the Eastern Province. Doctors said people should not take chicken pox lightly. There are ways to both treat and prevent chicken pox. The virus spreads through infected air droplets from the nose or mouth while coughing or sneezing. Touching the fluid of a chicken pox blister can also transmit the disease. Doctors say the virus is contagious for up to seven days while a person is infected. Symptoms do not appear until two days after infection and continues until all the chicken pox blisters have formed skabs. Doctors recommend keeping a person quarantined for the seven days a person is considered contagious. __
