A chickenpox party? Doctors say it's a bad idea

Mpls (red)Star Tribune /AP ^ | 4/802

[ArrogantBustard]

I wish all these folks were as worried about vaginal herpes

Now there's a nasty disease, for either sex.
Can you give any estimate of how many children were under your professional care? (tens, hundreds, thousands??) It would give some statistical significance to your never having seen even one case of a child hospitalised for chickenpox complications.
Thanks

AB

[Harrison Bergeron]

"...we were bussed all over the country looking at old temples built by a bunch of dead white males."

Obviously a publik skool field trip. In Catholic school, we were taught that the men of ancient Greece were very much alive when they built the monuments to their civilization that are still being copied today.

[chriservative]

Dan,

I understand the rationale behind your view, but I still think the end does not justify the means. This is not like circumcision, though you would argue otherwise. Lord knows if my parents had waited until I was past my formative years to circumsize me, I would be shellshocked. But we're talking about what - 5-8 year old kids? Maybe a little younger. Bringing them over to play with their little friends but unbeknownst to them, premeditatedly infecting them with an awful awful disease? Childhood chicken pox might be "mild" compared to adult CP but it is still no field day. I was in really bad shape when I had it. Should we take our children around to frat parties too and have them chug floaters until they catch mono? Mono is often caught only once and usually during the really important years of high school where a week off can mean a ruined SAT, a ruined GPA, etc. By your rationale, the answer would be yes. And that, reiterating my earlier point, is sick.

[BibChr]

You don't seem to be learning anyting, in spite of information being given you.

So, I'll just keep it simple: it worked exactly as we are discussing in our case. My children became quite mildly ill. I became terribly ill. If I'd gotten it in childhood, it'd've likely been far milder.

Sorry you were one of the exceptions — but just think if you'd gotten it as an adult! (And at the time I speak of, there was no vaccine.)

Dan

[RnMomof7]

When I worked in the hospital I "floated" meaning I worked many floors..how many ..maybe a thousand over the years. But I am of an age when every one got chicken pox..and all my kids and their friends and our neighbors all got them..I have never heard or seen a complication ,even in the adults I know that got them..

Now may I ask you a question? How many kids die or are maimed in car accidents a year? How many are seriously hurt skiing or playing hockey (did you see the 14 year old girl that died after getting hit in the head by a puck at a game?)How many kids fall off swing sets or as in one case I know pushing her brother on a swing she got hit in the forehead and had her brains knocked out the back of her head

My point is life is full of what if's and things that are more dangerous that chickenpox..ban children in cars and sports..

We do not know the final outcome of those hospitalizations..nor do we know what will happen to these same kids when they are no longer immune as adults..I stand by my thoughts

[RnMomof7]

I got chicken pox when I was in 7th grade. Got to miss 2 whole weeks of school (sweet deal when you are in 7th grade.). My little sister was only 2 at the time (she was a "surprise") she came down with them a week later. The doctor said it was good she had them so early. I did not find the experience that wonderful, and I wish I had had them as a really little kid, so I wouldn't have noticed it as much. ;-)

They ran through our oldest 5 all at once..the baby was 5 or 6 months old..he had 1 pox..thats it one on his little stomach.....and he has a life long immunity...(he is a dad to 3 and a nurse today..and very glad he is immune:>))

[RnMomof7]

Nothing happened this time (I was checking her pretty closely, and checking her pupils), but it could have (there are some parents who' have taken her immediately to the hospital). Would I deprive them of doing something fun like that? No. That is part of living.

Now if you were a good liberal you would write the President, call the manufacturer, call a state agency and see if you could have warning posted all over it for the stupid (have you read some of the warnings ..on knives.."Careful when handling the edge MAY be sharp"...LOL

I held my breath every time my kids went sking...Or they went to camp..but you have to let them go and taste life..it is such a wonderful gift!

[ArrogantBustard]

I'm not attempting to asses relative risk of chickenpox vs auto accidents, I'm attempting to assess relative risk of chickenpox vs varicella vaccine. I'm getting the impression that the risks are nearly identical, and negligible, though the true outcome of the vaccine has yet to be determined. I got started on it because the author of the subject article was an idiot, and didn't bother to find out those data.
Thousands of cases, personal and professional; no complications? If the 1 in 1000 figure is correct, one would expect you to have seen a handful. Perhaps the 1/1000 figure is "high"...
Question: Is "About 20 percent of adults who had chicken pox earlier in life get [shingles]" correct? I'm not a particularly sociable person, and certainly no medical professional, but if that were correct I would expect to have seen or heard of more than one case. In all your years of floating around a hospital, how many cases of shingles? Is it really that common (1 of 5 people gets it at some time in his life)?
I'm not arguing against you, I'm trying to get some hard data. I truly appreciate your comments here, just trying to flesh out the details. Thanks

AB

[RnMomof7]

Well I think from what I have seen the 20% sounds high..I just did a quick search and they said 1 in 10..that too sounds too high.

Think of everyone YOU know over 50..most of them have had chickenpox..how many have shingles?

I have seen what I would call allot of this..but no where near that figure

What I went looking for was an article on the trigger..my memory says when we studied this we were told the virus lays dormant until something triggers it and it becomes active again ..my memory said an emotional trigger ..like a death in the family or a stressful incident. The articles talked about compromised immune systems (no longer able to keep the virus dormant)

In the last 20 years I have seen maybe 10 cases..one was VERY serious, but it predated the anti viral drugs used to treat them today.

My bottom line of this is the same..we do not know if the people getting the vaccine will end up with an adult case of Chickenpox later..and then the shingles problem anyway

Does anyone know if the vaccine is live or killed?? Some kids get symptoms so it sounds live..if it is live I would think you could still get shingles later...a bump to the doc for some answers ...Is there a doctor in the house:>))

[andysandmikesmom]

My older boy got chickenpox when he was 4...it was just a fairly mild case, and he got over it quickly...thing was, I was a day or so away from giving birth to my second child, so the doc thought it a good thing to have my older boy spend extra time at grandmas house, being as that is where he was going to stay when I was in the hospital having my baby, and the doctor just did not want him around me, as I had never had the chickenpox...just a safety precaution...

When my younger boy was in kindergarten, I got a letter from the school saying there had been a chickenpox outbreak, and so for us to be watching our kids...and sure enough my younger boy came down with chickenpox, but it had to have been the mildest case ever...very few pox, but confirmed to be chickenpox by the military doctor...

He got over that case very quickly, as there were probably only about 10-15 pox...

A month later, we got another note from the school, saying there had been a second outbreak of chicken pox..so again we were to watch our kids...this time my younger boy got chicken pox, again, and what a bad case he had...100s of pox, and they were everywhere...in his ears, up his nose, on his penis, all over, poor guy...funny thing is, they barely itched, and he was not sick with a fever or anything...just had to stay home from school,...the military doc said, that obviously his first case was so light, that it did not provide him with full immunity, so when the second outbreak came along he got it again...

I, however, never did get anything...never had chicken pox as a kid, never caught it the three different times, my two boys had it...guess maybe I have a natural immunity to it...

However, I did get the mumps when I was 16, and boy was I miserable...I thought the pain was going to drive me out of my mind, and I just wanted to die...

[the_doc]

Varivax is a live vaccine, subcutaneously delivered. So, your "instincts" were correct.

[the_doc]

Varivax is a live vaccine, subcutaneously delivered. So, your "instincts" were correct.

I would guess, however, that it is highly unlikely for shingles to show up as one of the long-term sequelae of Varivax. I think the "infection" would be too mild to let VZV get into the nerves.

Ah, but I admit that this ain't my field.

[RnMomof7]

However, I did get the mumps when I was 16, and boy was I miserable...I thought the pain was going to drive me out of my mind, and I just wanted to die...

Funny I had mumps and didn't even know I was sick...the doctor came to see my sister and took one look at me and said I had mumps..I was 12...

[RnMomof7]

Do you know if a "booster" is required for this vaccine ?My thought is mostly that the kids could end up with an adult case later..

[andysandmikesmom]

Well, I was in incredible pain...I was at a graduation party for one my friends graduating from high school, and my mom was there also...I had not been feeling particularly well earlier in the day, but never wanting to miss a party, mom and I went...halfway through the party, I was in tears and in such pain, we had to leave(that is not like a typical teen-ager)...

We went to the doctor as early as possible the next day...by that time, my jaw on one side was all swollen out, and at first the doctor thought I had had some sort of dental work done a day or so before, or some sort of dental abcess...

But my teeth were perfect and fine, and the thorough examination finally revealed mumps...

I just remember being in agony...I guess all people react differently...I mean look at my son, with 100s of pox from the chickenpox, and he never scratched at them...because as he said they did not even itch...it made me itch to just look at him

So, I am glad you did not suffer with the mumps, but I sure did...everyone reacts differently I guess...

[FITZ]

I'm in the medical field and I knowingly exposed all my kids to chickenpox. There's reasons that vaccine took a long time to be on the market ---measles, mumps, rubella etc have been out for decades. If you study the reasons there was no chickenpox vaccine (low titers of antibody = shingles later in life), you might do the same to your kids.

[SamAdams76]

Well I guess my wife and I are way ahead of the curve. A few years back, during the summer, my kids were invited to a birthday party at a neighbor's house and the mother warned us that one of her kids had the chicken pox. I suggested to my wife that it would be an excellent opportunity for our two sons to go over there and get the chicken pox, so that they could get it over with and not have to miss any school. I remember getting the chicken pox as a third-grader and I missed three weeks of school. Hey, it was great for me at the time. I got to sit at home and watch Mr. Rogers and Captain Kangaroo all day. But it took me a long time to catch up with the rest of the class when I got back.

So we took the kids over there and sure enough, they came down with the chicken pox. Within two weeks, they were back to normal and were able to start the new school year on time. Furthermore, they won't have to worry about "The Shingles" or whatever they call adult chicken pox these days.

So I guess I made my kids catch chickenpox when making kids catch chickenpox wasn't cool!

[FITZ]

Many people get shingles if they undergo chemotherapy or if their immune systems become suppressed for some reason. It has to do with antibody titers dropping and leaving them open to certain infections for which they once had immunity.

[FITZ]

Whenever any kid got any kind of illness, the mom would put ALL the kids into one bed so they would all get sick at once and get it out of the way, instead of dragging on for weeks from one kid to the next.

The rare times any of my kids have been on antibiotics, when they're off the antibiotics I bathe them together so they can get back the normal skin flora and feed them yeast and yogurt ---otherwise they're likely to pick up another pathogen.