Can you get Chicken Pox more than once?

Quackers

squeaky wrote: »

IGoing back to an earlier post, back in the late fifties, if a child had chicken pox, all the friends and neighbours would send their kids round to play with the unfortunate with the express intention of "getting it over with while they're young".

Do people still do this?

I remember it was done when I was a child in the 70's & 80's.

Not sure if people still do it now.

I never kept my chidren away from others when they had it as I always had a similar attitude of 'they may as well get it over & done with'

My 7 month old Nephew has chicken pox at the moment. The blisters/spots are infected too & I have never seen it as bad on anyone in my life.

He's so poorly.

Savvy_Sue

squeaky wrote: »

Going back to an earlier post, back in the late fifties, if a child had chicken pox, all the friends and neighbours would send their kids round to play with the unfortunate with the express intention of "getting it over with while they're young".

Do people still do this?

I was doing it in the 80s and 90s, not so much 'parties' as still going to see my friends with my kids in tow even if their kids had it.

Mind you, the first time DS1 had it, his little friend was staying with us overnight while Mum was in labour. Friend went to bed fine, woke up with spots, so it was a bit late by then anyway! DS1 only had one or two spots which is why I had the HV look him over.

We did give it to an adult friend just before Easter one year, which was a bit unfortunate. I did warn him that it was doing the rounds, he still agreed to mind DS3 who promptly came out in spots. Our friend wasn't sure whether he'd had it or not, but it didn't look like it when his spots developed!

Children can be quite poorly with it, so I wouldn't automatically send a child to a chickenpox party ... But it is the last of the childhood nasties for which there is as yet no vaccine, isn't it?

cannylass_2

There is a 2 dose vaccine available to limited high risk groups, including health care workers, in this country. I believe it is about 75% effective in providing immunity.

DrFluffy

cannylass wrote: »

There is a 2 dose vaccine available to limited high risk groups, including health care workers, in this country. I believe it is about 75% effective in providing immunity.

Are you getting confused with MMR?

The chicken pox vaccine used in the UK is one dose and 95% seroconvert (develop antibidies). All medical students are tested for antibodies in their first year, and if they don't have them, they get vaccinated before patient contact begins. I assume this is much the same for nurses, radiographers etc...

The MMR is a 2 dose vaccine specifically because the measles aspect of it only leads to seroconversion in 75-80% of people immunised after one dose. The second dose brings this up to 95%.

My "Public Health" lecturer would be proud of me!

DrFluffy

Toothsmith wrote: »

This is the wrong way round I think.

The virus stays in your body in a dormant state once you've had chicken pox. If it rears it's ugly head again, that's when you develop shingles.

The virus becoming active again makes the person infective quite a while before shingles symptoms show - and in that time, several kids in contact with that adult can catch the virus, and start showing signs of chicken pox.

So the sequence of events is often the kids with chicken pox being blamed for the adult's shingles, when really it's the adult who started it all off!

Is that right Fluffy??

Yup - totally right. VZV 'lives' in the dorsal ganglia, integrating into the hosts DNA. When it reactivates as shingles it can only invade that dermatome (which I know you know - I bet you see shed loads of trigeminal cases as a dentalist), so you only get shingles lesions on the skin serviced by that nerve root.

Shingles isn't as infectious as chicken pox though - chicken pox can be spread through droplets (i.e. snivelly little kids ), where as shingles --> chicken pox needs direct contact. However, shingles --> chicken pox in a new person is rampant in people with a weakened immune system.

My friend got shingles last year and wasn't allowed on ward for almost a month! She then developed trigenimal neuralgia to put the icing on the cake

DrFluffy

cannylass wrote: »

There is a 2 dose vaccine available to limited high risk groups, including health care workers, in this country. I believe it is about 75% effective in providing immunity.

Just read they use a 2 dose schedule in the US...

Need_More_Money_2

Toothsmith wrote: »

This is the wrong way round I think.

The virus stays in your body in a dormant state once you've had chicken pox. If it rears it's ugly head again, that's when you develop shingles.

The virus becoming active again makes the person infective quite a while before shingles symptoms show - and in that time, several kids in contact with that adult can catch the virus, and start showing signs of chicken pox.

So the sequence of events is often the kids with chicken pox being blamed for the adult's shingles, when really it's the adult who started it all off!

Is that right Fluffy??

This is my understanding too - you can't catch shingles.
Most people develop immunity to chicken pox after having it but a few don't so it is possible to catch it again. I had chicken pox as an adult a few years ago but still do not have antibodies so could get it again But it is still possible to be immune even without antibodies.

cannylass_2

DrFluffy wrote: »

Are you getting confused with MMR?

The chicken pox vaccine used in the UK is one dose and 95% seroconvert (develop antibidies). All medical students are tested for antibodies in their first year, and if they don't have them, they get vaccinated before patient contact begins. I assume this is much the same for nurses, radiographers etc...

The MMR is a 2 dose vaccine specifically because the measles aspect of it only leads to seroconversion in 75-80% of people immunised after one dose. The second dose brings this up to 95%.

My "Public Health" lecturer would be proud of me!

nope!!

It is def. a 2 parter, see latest "Green book" info:D

DrFluffy

Hmm - we were only ever given one if needed... And the WHO say one dose UK, two dose US... http://www.who.int/vaccines/en/varicella.shtml

In Japan and several other countries one dose of the vaccine is considered sufficient, regardless of age. In the United States, two doses, four to eight weeks apart, are recommended for adolescents and adults, in whom 78% were found to have seroconverted after the first, and 99% after the second dose of the vaccine. Children below 13 years of age receive only one dose.

Edit: that's almost cheating The Varicella bit of the Green book was only updated in mid May ...

So does that mean all the health care professionals who have only had one dose will need another?

cannylass_2

DrFluffy wrote: »

Hmm - we were only ever given one if needed... And the WHO say one dose UK, two dose US... http://www.who.int/vaccines/en/varicella.shtml

In Japan and several other countries one dose of the vaccine is considered sufficient, regardless of age. In the United States, two doses, four to eight weeks apart, are recommended for adolescents and adults, in whom 78% were found to have seroconverted after the first, and 99% after the second dose of the vaccine. Children below 13 years of age receive only one dose.

Edit: that's almost cheating The Varicella bit of the Green book was only updated in mid May ...

So does that mean all the health care professionals who have only had one dose will need another?

Sorry, Fluffy, can I help that I am so incredibly well informed/up to date!!!:D
I don't know what would be recommended if only one dose given-presumably could be topped up at anytime as long as minimal time interval has elapsed.