Barbara Walters Battling Chicken Pox at Age 83

INSIDE EDITION'S learning new details today about Barbara Walter's troubling chickenpox diagnosis.

ABC News Chief medical editor, Dr. Richard Besser said, "It can be serious, you can get pneumonia, you can get inflamation of the brain, you can get infections of your skin, it's something you don't take lightly."

Dr. Besser said, "Chickenpox can be very serious at Barbara's age - she's 83. This is pretty unusual to have chickenpox as an adult. Roughly 30,000 people get chickenpox every year as adults. They somehow missed out on the infection that just about everyone gets."

Thankfully, chickenpox is extremely rare in the U.S. The vast majority of children are vaccinated against it.

Walters reportedly caught the chicken pox virus from a guest at a New Year's dinner party in Florida.

As well wishes pour in from her TV colleagues, Walters is recuperating at a hospital in New York.

Dr. Besser said, "She's doing great. She has an itchy rash but we hope she'll be back on The View soon."