So my good friend DiosaBellissima has just been diagnosed with shingles. We were discussing chicken pox, et cetera, and I got to wondering: Why is it that chicken pox, varicella zoster, is mild for children and so devastating for adults? What changes in our biochemistry in puberty that makes the same virus more dangerous?
I sifted through all the old threads I could find on chicken pox, and although this fact was mentioned, I couldn’t find any explanation. Inquiring minds, and all that. 
waves a herpes infected hand
'Sup y’all? What he said.
pops a Valtrex for shingles
I don’t know, but I would point out that it’s not the only virus that differs in adults versus children. In the developing world, most people get mononucleosis as small children, in whom it manifests as a mild cold. The crushing fatigue and all those other fun symptoms only develop when you get mono when you’re older.
Correct me if I’m wrong but I seem to remember hearing that chicken pox in adults can cause sterility.
GilaB has a very good point- funny that I completely forgot about that. Interestingly enough, I got mono in high school, although it wasn’t very bad (my friends that got it though? Man, they were out of commission for weeks, if not months).
To put it simply, one’s ability to suppress the virus degrades as one ages.
From the CDC website:
So maybe it also has to do with the fact that your body is already immunocompromised to the point of allowing the Varicella virus to reemerge.
The immune system is better able to build antibodies when we are young? Why is this?
You’re thinking of the mumps, another childhood disease that’s worse the older you get it. Only causes sterility in males, and according to wikipedia, that’s rare.
Our immune systems tend to be stronger when we’re young.
Like most things you read on the Internet, things get way over exaggerated. For instance I have a mild allergy but my lips swell. Sometimes my eyes. It has come and gone all my life. Other than an itch I NEVER had any problems.
Now all of a sudden in the last two years, every doctor I have talked to tells me I have anaphylaxis (cause my lips swell) and that I should rush to the emergency room when this happens as I may stop breathing.
I’ve had this basically on and off (sometimes it goes away for 5 years) and besides the hive and the itch NEVER once had a problem breathing.
Now suddenly I’m at death’s door? What changed? No doctor wants to be sued. So all these mild allergies have become life threatening illness.
The body does *everything * better when you’re young.
Trust me on this. 
Chicken pox occurs throughout your body, and like most viruses it has its day in the sun and then fades away as your immune system takes care of it. But the virus counters the immune system by hiding in spinal nerves (your body wouldn’t risk destroying a nerve to get at a virus since they’re impossible to rebuild) and waits to reactivate. When it reactivates, it travels through the peripheral nervous system which is why you see it around the waste of most people. This is also why its so painful, because the virus is breaking out of the nerves, and why Shingles is so much more devastating than Chicken Pox.
I think what changed is that doctors trust their patients less and less, and they don’t want you to die by mistaking actual anaphylaxis for a mild allergy. When I had anaphylaxis that’s what I thought too – “heh, must be dust or something”… I was coughing a little and my lips were swelling and my eyes were really red. I was standing in the restroom in front of a mirror examining my swollen face when I started coughing up blood and things got hazy – then I drove myself to the emergency room because that’s how “smart” I am :rolleyes: By the time I got there I was barely able to breathe. That was over the span of maybe 45 minutes. If my reaction was more severe, according to my immunologist, I could’ve been unconscious within minutes of first symptoms.
Poor DiosaBellissima! You poor, poor baby! I’ve heard shingles is very painful. Here’s a cool compress: It’s distilled water infused with essential oil of melissa, which is supposed to be very good for treating shingles.
(Hey, I’m in aromatherapy school and figured you could use some TLC.)
I think the OP is not actually asking about shingles. Shingles just made him or her think of chicken pox. The OP is asking why full blown first case of varicella is so much severe in adults than in children – and it is:
According to this page the incidence of varicella pneumonia in adults with chicken pox is 16 to 25% and the mortality rate thereof is 10 - 30%. Giving chicken pox a 1.6 - 7.5% mortality rate in adults from pneumonia complications alone.
Yes, groman is correct about my question. My apologies if I was misleading. The consensus so far about the immune system being better at a young age makes sense, but I’m sure there’s more to the story.
Wow, I’m glad I didn’t know that when I had chicken pox. It didn’t seem to bad for me, I guess I was lucky.
I am too lazy to do the research at the moment, but I will chime in on it having something to do with compromised immune systems. Shingles is (or has been in at least the recent past) a major concern as being a complication for children who are cancer patients (maybe to adults also, I just don’t have any firsthand knowledge of that). Because their immune systems are so weakened as a result of their treatments, they catch it easily and suffer more from it, even those who had chicken pox previously. In hospitals, they frequently don’t even let cancer patients be in the same general area as anyone who has the chicken pox.
Thank you! It does hurt a lot, but I can happily say it’s not OMGAWFUL sharp pain (yet)- just dull, constant, kill-me-now sort of pain. That said, I’ve got to be a big kid, so I’m presently at work, doped up on anti-viral medicines and Tylenol (ok, neither of those dope you up, but still), and all achy.
Although my dearest SpatialRift47 was, in fact, asking why chicken pox is so much worse for an adult, I will chime into agree with Jelymag: the doctor told me that people with compromised immune systems get shingles. AIDs patients and cancer patients seem to be the most vulnerable to shingles, but he said stress can have a similar effect on the body. In fact, he actually said, “Well, you don’t have AIDs, I’m pretty sure you don’t have cancer, but you are a college student that works full time- so stop being so stressed and you wont get shingles 
.” I told him I’d love to, but that really isn’t a viable option at the moment, sadly.