Re: Who discovered chicken pox? When was it discovered? Known 4 how long?

Chickenpox is caused by the Varicella virus. According to this website:

http://www.stanford.edu/group/virus/herpes/History.html:


"Varicella-Zoster Virus (VZV) also has a long recorded history. However, 
historical accounts often fail to distinguish between the poc marks 
caused by VZV and those caused by small pox. 

It was only in the late eighteenth century that Heberden established a way 
to clinically differentiate between the two diseases. In 1888, it was 
suggested by von Bokay that chickenpox and herpes zoster were due to 
the same causal agent. It was not until Weller and Stoddard isolated virus 
both from chickenpox and zoster and compared the viruses that this 
connection was confirmed: chickenpox and herpes zoster were indeed 
due to the same virus!"