[LadyDoc]

FYI: Chicken pox can indeed cause a nasty pneumonia. But it's rare...and usually only seen in sick people: i.e. people with cancer, people on dialysis, people with chemotherapy,etc. I've seen two cases, both mild, one in a retarded woman who had severe cerebral palsy, and one in a lady who never had chickenpox. Both did okay. However, it can be very serious. This is why we try not to put kids with chickenpox into hospitals.

Nowadays, we can treat it with anti viral medication such as Zovirax: the same medicine that is used for herpes. (chicken pox is a herpes type virus: Herpes Zoster. Herpes simplexI causes cold sores and Herpes simplex II causes genital herpes).

I suspect she had cancer, but was not aware she was that sick. Or maybe she was getting chemo and that ruined her immune system, but if she hadn't gotten chicken pox could have served a couple more years in congress.

[bonesmccoy]

No need to lecture me on VZV. I'm aware of how to diagnose and treat it though I am happy to have you post this info for others. I really don't use acyclovir much and perhaps I should be more aggressive using it.

Usually when varicella is this bad, it is associated with immunocompromise. Geriatric patients can be compromised in this fashion. Other diagnoses are purely speculative. I take on face value the comments from the politicians (that it was a case of varicella pneumonia). The fact we can read into this deeper was probably not intended by the Hawaii state Democratic Party.