Author Topic: CHicken Pox- the new ebola?  (Read 4427 times)

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: CHicken Pox- the new ebola?
« Reply #25 on: 06 April, 2017, 09:38:40 pm »
And in contrast to the now non-giving of TB vaccine, in Poland they immunise babies against it at birth. And I mean literally at birth, first thing after the Apgar score.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: CHicken Pox- the new ebola?
« Reply #26 on: 06 April, 2017, 10:25:10 pm »
I think this is done in Brent, where there's much TB in the Asian community. Not sure if that's all babies though.
Or rather, they did until vaccine supplies dwindled last year...
http://www.kilburntimes.co.uk/news/health/bgc_vaccines_for_babies_in_brent_are_suspended_1_4524998

bhoot

  • MemSec (ex-Mrs RRtY)
Re: CHicken Pox- the new ebola?
« Reply #27 on: 06 April, 2017, 11:29:47 pm »
I am in the "never had chicken pox as a child" camp... I have memories of my sister and I being sent round to the houses of any local children suffering in the hope we might catch it and then (presumably) gain future immunity. I am pretty sure she never got it either so that tactic didn't work.

caerau

  • SR x 3 - PBP fail but 1090 km - hey - not too bad
Re: CHicken Pox- the new ebola?
« Reply #28 on: 06 April, 2017, 11:36:23 pm »
Well if you never get it, you'll never get shingles.  Having never had it in childhood isn't necessarily a bad thing.
It's a reverse Elvis thing.

ian

Re: CHicken Pox- the new ebola?
« Reply #29 on: 07 April, 2017, 10:03:38 am »
You don't actually get immunity from chicken pox by catching it. Once you have chicken pox, you keep it for life. Chicken pox is the acute infection stage of the varicella zoster virus. It then remains latent in nervous tissue. Shingles is a reactivation of the latent viral stage.

Generally the symptoms are more serious the later you catch it. I'm not sure why we don't vaccinate in the UK for either chicken pox or later for shingles.

caerau

  • SR x 3 - PBP fail but 1090 km - hey - not too bad
Re: CHicken Pox- the new ebola?
« Reply #30 on: 07 April, 2017, 10:59:13 am »
Well indeed - I think what they mean is an immune system booster.  A bit like the tetanus booster you get every ten years if you cut yourself and talk to a health professional about it at the appropriate time.


I read that in a Guardian article, it sounds a bit like improving your resistance to a previous bout of malaria by going boating naked down the Congo.
It's a reverse Elvis thing.

ian

Re: CHicken Pox- the new ebola?
« Reply #31 on: 07 April, 2017, 03:50:50 pm »
Certainly in the US it's common (if you have healthcare coverage, hah) to get a shingles vaccination at age 40ish regardless of whether you've had chicken pox. It apparently reduces the likelihood of the virus coming back and severity of symptoms. I've not read the studies, so I don't know how efficacious it is, in the US they tend to push anything your insurer will pay for.