why do chikenpox itch?
86527
No one really knows exactly why people itch in general, actually.  Some people believe itching is a sensation caused by the aggravation of terminal nerve endings, and a response somewhere between no pain and pain.  This is related to chicken pox because most scientists believe that the Varicella-Zoster virus eventually makes its way into the nerves in the skin.  Since the body is trying to fight the virus, chemicals and fluids are sent to the site of infection that cause intense itching (pruritus).  This would explain why it itches even more when the blisters (or vesicles) break, releasing fluid from the blister.  It's in these blisters that chemicals called histamines may be released onto the skin, causing you to feel itchy.
282402
Pruritis is the medical word for itch.\nThe exact cause of an itch is unknown and is a complex process. It involves nerves in the skin responding to certain chemicals such as histamine, and then processing these signals in the brain. Pruritis can be a symptom of certain skin diseases, and sometimes a manifestation of an internal process. In other patients where there is no evidence of skin or internal disease, pruritis may be due to faulty processing of the itch sensation within the nervous system.
604016
an itch is caused by an inflammation or irritation of the skin...\nwhich is generally due to some skin disease etc..
875840
If an anti-fungal cream, like lotrimin or clotrimazole takes the itch away quick, then it may be a yeast reaction.  Otherwise there may be a dye on the wood that you have developed an allergy to.\n\nIf it appears to be a yeast problem, there is basic info on yeast conditions at www.hufa.org at the yeast link.
472589
Use wet compresses or give baths in cool or lukewarm water every 3 to 4 hours for the first few days. Oatmeal baths, available at the supermarket or pharmacy, can help to relieve itching. (Baths do not spread chickenpox.) \nPat (don't rub) the body dry. \nPut calamine lotion on itchy areas (but don't use it on the face, especially near the eyes). \nEat foods that are cold, soft, and bland because chickenpox in the mouth may make drinking or eating difficult. Try to avoid anything that's highly acidic or especially salty, like orange juice or pretzels.
997123
There are many things that can cause itching.  If you live in the south and ramble in the woods or in tall grass, it could be chiggers....a minute little bug that gets on you and bites.  Or one of the poisons...ivy,ect.\n\nIf you have been to a hotel you could have gotten bed bugs.\n\nI would suggest that you and your father see a dermatologist.  This is a skin doctor and help is there!  If the itching is severe, creams with benedryl in them help and so do the benedryl pills.  Just until you can get to a dermatologist!
1121632
Use nail polish remover to clean the area & then put clear nail polish on the chigger bite. It will stop the itching & help it to heal quicker.
571545
I would say Chicken Pox. Is the rash itchy?
443469
Chickenpox is one of the classic childhood diseases, and one of the most contagious. The affected child or adult may develop hundreds of itchy, fluid-filled blisters that burst and form crusts. Chickenpox is caused by a virus.\n\nThe virus that causes chickenpox is varicella-zoster, a member of the herpesvirus family. The same virus also causes herpes zoster (shingles) in adults.\n\nCauses, incidence, and risk factors    Return to top \n\nIn a typical scenario, a young child is covered in pox and out of school for a week. The first half of the week the child feels miserable from intense itching; the second half from boredom. Since the introduction of the chickenpox vaccine, classic chickenpox is much less common.\n\nChickenpox is extremely contagious, and can be spread by direct contact, droplet transmission, and airborne transmission. Even those with mild illness after the vaccine may be contagious.\n\nWhen someone becomes infected, the pox usually appear 10 to 21 days later. People become contagious 1 to 2 days before breaking out with pox. They remain contagious while uncrusted blisters are present.\n\nOnce you catch chickenpox, the virus usually remains in your body for your lifetime, kept in check by the immune system. About 1 in 10 adults will experience shingles when the virus re-emerges during a period of stress.\n\nMost cases of chickenpox occur in children younger than ten. The disease is usually mild, although serious complications sometimes occur. Adults and older children usually get sicker than younger children do.\n\nChildren under one year of age whose mothers have had chickenpox are not very likely to catch it. If they do, they often have mild cases because they retain partial immunity from their mothers' blood. Children under one year of age whose mothers have not had chickenpox, or whose inborn immunity has already waned, can get severe chickenpox.\n\nThe pox are worse in children who have other skin problems, such as eczema or a recent sunburn.\n\nComplications are more common in those who are immunocompromised from an illness or medicines like chemotherapy. Some of the worst cases of chickenpox have been seen in children who have taken steroids (for example, for asthma) during the incubation period, before they have any symptoms
93913
Itch is produced due to the presence of certain noxious chemicals at the site of itch like histamine e.g. released in allergic conditions like hay fever, or substances produced by local pathogens like cutaneous bacteria that may flourish if a person has little habbit of bathing. These chemicals inturn stimulate nerve endings at specific receptors which take the itch sensation to spinal cord. When we scratch then itching stops because of following mechanisms: 1) either the noxious chemical or agent is removed or 2) the sensory receptor gets exhausted and stops generating impulses because of sudden strain of stimuli during the process of scratching 3) scratching stimulates pain nerve endings which results into supression of further sensations from that area due to reflex inhibition of the neuron. \n\nWhat you have asked can has two mechanisms, i will try to make them clear,\n\n(I). A single neuron does not end by supplying a sigle receptor rather it has many nerve endings which take sensations over a large area and different neurons are interconected with each other, this means that if one neuron at a particular site is stimulated say by those chemicals, sensations wil also be reffered to the areas of other neurons to which that particular neuron is interconnected (this is also the mechanism for "reffered pain") but normally body will preferably perceive that site from which impulses have highest frequency and intensity i.e. the original site of itch, and body will ignore other sites from which weak impulses are coming. When you will itch on that original site, the impulses from that site will vanish suddenly but from the weak sties will continue. In this way will feel as if the same sensation has shifted from original site to another site.\n\n(II). Another mechanism may be that sometimes when you scratch the itching area this cause hault of impulse generation by the receptor at that site but also stimulates other neurons to which the original neuron is interconnected and this results into shifting of same sensation to the skin area of the other neuron.\n\nAlso please keep in mind that certain dermatological conditioins in there mider form like mild allergy, hay fever, urticaria, hives, dermatitis, etc can cause itching because the receptors become sensative due to the presence of histamine and other madiators of allergy, I will recommend if it is a long term problem consult a skin specialist.
539379
Scratching causes another counter irritation and the brain gets distracted. Chk out the  link\n\nhttp://www.ratlab.co.uk/itch.htm
471082
Well, three quesses.\n According to your hypothesis we rub in dirt and bacteria, so maybe nature is doing this on purpose to make us get bateria on us to build up our immune systems. \n Or maybe there are chemicals or enzymes in things that bite us or touch our skin (like being allergic to metal) that cause the itch. \n But I think the most popular answer to this queston would have something to do with the fact that during a months time your skin is completeky recycled meaning, the layer that was on the very bottom at the begining of that month is now the top layer of skin. You itch because dead skin is needing to be scracted off.
555170
the oil from the plant is whats causing the burning and itch. if you scratch, then you drag that irritation along non-injured skin. the " just in case"anti-biotic will only help prevent secondary infection from the lesions and most steroid creams can only be used on a 3 on 1 off schedule to prevent skin thinning. and calamine lotion just turns you pink. there are pills( neuroton) that can be given to help by decreasing the impulses felt by the nerve endings and that in extreme cases, but like all things it will have to run its coarse.Remember to wash your hands after putting on your cream or touching your skin. Poison ivy, when spread to the eye can cause Cornela abrasion and even blindness, spread to the mucus membrane or inside the mouth, can cause lesions in the throat and sinus. why too many problems to mess with. next time, if you get into the ivy, wash your skin very well( at least 10 min.) with plain soap and cool water. and DON'T SCRATCH! good luck.
809880
Chicken pox usually starts with a rash on the body and face that rapidly turns to blisters with clear fluid then to pus filled blisters.  You probably have an allergy or perhaps flea bites.
990407
From the link below:\n\nThe average human body is covered by about 20 square feet (2 square meters) of skin. Skin is the only organ that is constantly exposed to potential irritation. And, with so many things coming into contact with your skin daily, you're bound to get an itch or two. Serious itching can be caused by allergies, disease, emotions and infections, but let's take a look at what causes the common itches that aggravate you everyday. \nItching, also known as pruritus, starts with some kind of external stimuli, including bugs, dust, clothing fibers and hair. Like tickling, itching is a built-in defense mechanism that alerts your body to the potential of being harmed. In this case, it might be the potential of being bit by a bug. \n\nWhen the stimuli lands on your skin, it may not bother you at first, but soon it will begin to rub back and forth across your skin. Once the hair or dust scratches your skin's surface layer, receptors in the dermis of the skin will become irritated. In a split second, these receptors send a signal through fibers in the skin to your spinal cord and then up to the cerebral cortex in your brain. \n\nThe same fibers that send itching signals are also used to send pain signals to the brain, which once led some scientists to believe that itching was a form of light pain. That notion has since been dispelled by research, which showed that pain and itching elicit opposite responses. Pain causes us to withdraw and itching causes us to scratch. \n\nAs soon as we feel an itch, our first natural response is to scratch the spot of the itch with our fingernails. The reason for this response is simple -- we want to remove the irritant as soon as possible. Once you've scratched the area of irritation, you are likely to feel some relief. When your brain realizes that you've scratched away the irritant, the signal being sent to your brain that you have an itch is interrupted and therefore no longer recognized by the brain. \n\nEven if you don't remove the irritant, scratching will at least cause pain and divert your attention away from the itching. The irritant that caused the itching is very small, maybe only a few microns in length, so it disturbs only a few nerve endings. When you use your fingernail to scratch the spot where the irritant is, you not only remove the irritant but you irritate a lot more nerve endings than the irritant.
474075
Sounds like chicken pox to me my daughter had them when she was about 3 and only had two on her face.I would take her to the doctor just to be on the safe side.
12186
They itch because your body is reacting to a chemical the mosquitoes inject into your skin to keep you from feeling them suck your blood. As for stopping the itching, I've always had good luck with After Bite - http://www.tendercorp.com/afterbite.html