Often a fever and body aches occur before the rash appears. Pneumonia occurs in 10-15 percent of teenagers and adults who have chicken pox. Yes, chicken pox is highly contagious. A person who has chicken pox is contagious until all their spots are scabbed over. If you have never had chicken pox before, there is a 90 percent chance that you will catch it if someone in your house has it.
Infection occurs less often after exposure in other places, such as a school.
For chicken pox, the incubation period ranges from 10 to 21 days. The first thing you should do is have your health care professional do a blood test to see if you have any antibodies to the chicken pox virus. Up to 95 percent of women who do not think or know if they ever had chicken pox will have antibodies on a blood test. You are not immune if a blood test shows you do not have antibodies to the chicken pox virus. If you are not immune, you are at risk for being infected.