A little info for any carers of children with chickenpox. The scabs can allow skin bacteria to infect the child. This may present as a swelling around the scab. It can become life threatening as it can quickly progress to septicaemia (sepsis) in a matter of hours.

It's rare enough that Accident & Emergency may not recognise it as they'll only have a handful of cases in a year in a middle-sized city. There could be a delay in giving that huge cocktail of antibiotics that are going to be required.

The high-dendency unit is a scary place.