Both prickly heat and rubella can be contagious. What is the difference between the two?

Sometimes we lack understanding of the symptoms of some diseases and are unable to detect and determine what disease we have in a short period of time. So what is prickly heat and what is rubella? What is the difference between the two and are they contagious?

What is prickly heat

Prickly heat is a common superficial, inflammatory skin disease in summer or hot environments. It is mainly because in a high temperature environment, a large amount of sweat is not easy to evaporate, resulting in sweat retention and sweat seepage into surrounding tissues, forming papules, blisters or pustules, which are mostly seen in wrinkles; if local bacteria multiply and produce toxins, the condition may be aggravated.

Generally, it can be divided into the following clinical categories: 1. Crystalline miliary: also known as white prickly heat, it is a superficial small blisters with a pinpoint to needle size, thin wall, clear, no red halo around, easy to break with light rubbing, and leaves fine scales after drying. 2. Red miliary: also known as red prickly heat, acute onset, skin lesions are batches of round and pointed needle-sized dense papules or papules, with mild red halo around. There is mild desquamation after the skin lesions subside. There is a slight burning and itching sensation. 3. Pustular miliary: also known as prickly heat. It is mostly developed from red miliary, with dense papules with needle-sized superficial purulent blisters on the top. 4. Deep miliary rash: also known as deep miliary rash, because the affected area is relatively deep, it is densely packed with small skin-colored blisters with clear contents, not easy to be scratched, it increases in size when sweating and shrinks when not sweating.

When the rash is widespread, the whole body sweats less or no sweat, and the face, armpits, hands and feet may have compensatory sweating increase, which can cause tropical ahidrosis or heat exhaustion. The patient may experience systemic symptoms such as weakness, drowsiness, dizziness, headache, etc. For targeted treatment, you can apply cooling powder such as prickly heat powder externally, or use cooling anti-itching lotion such as 1% mint calamine lotion, 1% mint tincture; for purulent prickly heat, you can use 2% fish stone calamine lotion, Coptis chinensis powder externally. If it is a systemic treatment, oral antihistamines are taken when itching is obvious. Antibiotics are used when purulent prickly heat is infected.

To prevent prickly heat, you need to keep the room ventilated and cool to reduce sweating and facilitate sweat evaporation. Wear loose clothes to facilitate sweat evaporation and change wet clothes in time. In addition, keep the skin clean and dry, wipe sweat with a dry towel or take a bath frequently with warm water. After prickly heat occurs, avoid scratching to prevent secondary infection.

What is Rubella

Rubella is an infectious disease that is common in spring and winter. It is spread by the rubella virus through respiratory droplets between people. A normal healthy person may be infected after coming into contact with a rubella patient. Generally, the virus enters the human body through the respiratory tract, nose and mouth, and begins to multiply in these places. The virus becomes more and more, enters the lymph nodes on both sides of the neck, and then spreads to other parts of the body through the flow of blood, causing systemic viral blood syndrome and illness. This period of time is called the "incubation period", which is generally 14-21 days. When the disease occurs, most people will have a fever of about 38°C, headache, lack of energy, sore throat and other mild upper respiratory tract symptoms, similar to a common cold. This period of time is generally 1-2 days, and these symptoms are not obvious after the rash appears.

The rash first appears in the soft palate, cheeks, occipital region and other parts of the mouth, with dark red macules or ecchymoses, and then pink macules or macules appear from the face and back of the neck, which fade after being pressed with fingers. The rash is less common and not connected into spots, but scattered, and then continuously from the upper end to the lower end of the body, in the order of the neck, trunk, upper limbs, and finally the lower limbs quickly appear, but not on the palms and soles of the feet. It usually heals in 2-4 days. The rash may have bran-like dandruff, but there is no trace after it heals, just like normal skin. If diagnosed with rubella, the patient should be isolated from healthy people to prevent infection. Generally, it will take 5 days. The patient needs to rest in bed, drink plenty of water, eat porridge and pickles and other easily digestible foods, and can take wind-clearing, heat-clearing and detoxifying drugs for symptomatic treatment. After recovery, it may occasionally cause complications such as bronchitis, otitis media and encephalitis. It is particularly important to note that pregnant women who contract rubella during the first four months of pregnancy may experience miscarriage, stillbirth, premature birth and fetal malformation. Therefore, be careful not to come into contact with rubella patients. If you accidentally come into contact with them, you should go to the hospital immediately to prevent the disease.