Chicken pox

Have you had chicken pox before? That is the number one question- if so little to worry about.

Most of us by the time we reach this age are fairly immune to lots of things that we ve either had or been in contact with anyway I m sure there are outbreaks every year no point in worrying You can’t protect yourself unless you stay in always and never meet anyone
What actually are you afraid of ?

The thing ti worry about is shingles. If you have had chicken pox as a child the virus can stay dormant for decades and come back later.
You can get a vaccination now against shingles

You cannot get shingles from someone who has chicken pox, so if that's your worry, then you'll be okay.
If you have shingles then anyone exposed to you can develop chicken pox.

You can usually only get the chicken pox if you do not have immunity to the virus that causes it (varicella). Many of us are immune to varicella because we had the chicken pox in the past. The youngsters get the chickenpox (varicella) vaccine these days.

Immunity does wane over time and some people need to get vaccinated again. If you aren't sure if you are still immune to the chickenpox, a blood test called a varicella titer can tell you:
www.accesalabs.com/Varicella-Titer

As others thoughtfully wrote, shingles occurs because the varicella virus is reactivated in the body and not because you were exposed to the chicken pox. The varicella virus never goes away once you have been exposed to it.

Hope that helps!

The youngsters get the chickenpox (varicella) vaccine these days.
I don't think they get the vaccine in the UK, although I know that they do in Australia.

Our practice nurse did say that she noticed an increase in shingles cases when there was a chickenpox epidemic in the locality, although, apparently, you cannot catch shingles from someone with chickenpox.

I'm not sure why you are worried about it, jenn1955, unless you have a compromised immune system and have not had chickenpox previously.

Unless you go into the school why worry ? I don’t think you can catch it from a ‘nearby school’.

you do not get shingles from the chickenpox virus but if you have shingles you can infect someone with chickenpox . We had to cut a holiday short with small DGC as DH developed shingles . This was on doctor's advice

My DGS had the chickenpox vaccine in the UK but it has to be done privately and costs £100 - it's not part of the standard programme. (DD and SIL both had chickenpox really badly as children so they thought it was worth it.) I don't understand why the OP is worried unless it is about shingles? Unless they have never had chickenpox?

If a person has already had Chickenpox, they can't get it again - but they CAN get Shingles.

A person with Shingles cannot pass it on to someone else though.

Once you have had chickenpox, you usually develop antibodies to the infection and become immune to catching it again. However, the virus that causes chickenpox, the varicella-zoster virus, remains inactive (dormant) in your body's nerve tissues and can return later in life as an illness called shingles.

It's possible to catch chickenpox from someone with shingles, but not the other way around.

I have reached the age of 63 without contracting chickenpox, despite my own three children having had severe cases and years of teaching children who contracted it. My GP said I must have had a mild case without realising it.
My SIL had it whilst pregnant and gave birth to a profoundly disabled baby, who later died. She herself became very ill and is now disabled. It is a very nasy illness.

I've never knowingly had chicken pox although both my children and grandchildren have had it. GS1 had it twice and was really ill the second time.

I dont think there are any precautions you can take except to stay well away from infected people.

My mother said I'd never had chickenpox but when SIL brought her two infected children to stay my child got it and I didnt.

It's a nasty illness in young babies but there used to be chicken pox parties when I was young so that everyone got it as a child and didnt have to worry when they were adults. We noticed that of the 3 children with chicken pox it was the eldest who was most disturbed by it.

We have photos of the children to show they all got an extensive dose!

I do understand your concern if you have not had chicken pox. When I was nursing one of my male colleagues caught chicken pox and he died of encephalitis. My sister caught chiken pox from my children when she was in her 20s and she was ill for a long time. Adult infection always seems to be more extreme.

Thank you for all the comments! I am only concerned and want to be as protected as possible

Yes, agree with everyone. Just to kind of condense everything for anyone who is confused:

1. You can get chickenpox if you have not had it before. It does tend to be more serious in adults.

2. You CANNOT get shingles from someone with chickenpox. Shingles occurs AFTER you have had chickenpox. The virus stays at the base of your spine and can reactivate as shingles. This usually happens in older people or people who have a lowered immune system.

3. It IS possible to get chickenpox from someone who has an active shingles rash. This is why older people with shingles should stay away from their grandchildren who have not had chickenpox or the vaccine.

4. There are vaccines available for both chickenpox and shingles. I do not know whether they are available in the UK; they are available in Canada. You can check with your provider about whether you need a shingles vaccine or whether your GC might need a chickenpox vaccine.

Don’t worry once you have grandkids they will bring everything home for you ?

You can only get the shingles injection in Uk at 70 ? Isn’t it ? unless you have a particular health problem but come on you can stand next to someone in the shop queue or sit next to them on the bus You just can’t worry about what you might catch you really can’t or you would go mad Doesn’t even enter my head when I hear a school has an outbreak of anything from chickenpox to head lice

BlueBelle

Absolutely. Head lice only really spread from one person to another if you are actually touching hair or things that touch hair (hats, combs, brushes, hair accessories). Shingles can only occur after you've had chickenpox already. The virus reactivates, usually as a result of a lowered immune system.

Just to add that people with compromised immune systems may not be advised to have the shingles vaccination.

or rather - may be advised not to have the shingles vaccine

Jalima1108

Very true. I believe the shingles vaccine is live (could be wrong) so it would not be recommended for people with compromised immune systems.