Chicken Pox is a viral infection caused by the varicella-zoster virus, a type of herpes virus. It is contracted by contact with actual lesions or by respiratory secretions and there is a 10-21 day incubation period during which your child is developing the illness but does not show any symptoms and is not contagious (until the very last 1 or 2 days before the pox appear.) (Wood, 2000) Once the vesicles show up there are likely to be many more on the way for between 3 and 7 more days and your child is contagious throughout this whole period until ...