“Infected.” I don’t remember if I got a vaccination for chicken pox or not; if it was recommended I’m sure I did. I did end up getting the virus itself. I don’t think it’s taken all that seriously in the U.S. because it’s not a major health threat to most people. I’d say it’s seen as a childhood rite of passage, more or less, as evidenced by stupid things like pox parties (although I don’t know how common those really are).
Same Downunder, my two oldest got the pox but my two youngest had the vaccination. I also had it as did my brothers, my wife and her siblings.
The CP parties are stupid, why not vaccinate? Bloody stupid anti-vaccination people :smack:
It’s taken more seriously recently in the US. I know because I got a call from the Health Department last week asking if the positive culture I did came from shingles or chicken pox (it was shingles). So apparently chicken pox is now a reportable disease in Virginia.
You also do not want shingles. I see enough shingles to know that it is never fun. The patient above thought it was heat rash, and was not happy to be told that there would be very severe pain in a day or two and please take a prescription for narcotics. Three days later I was refilling the prescription.
As far as immunity waning, it can be a problem but hopefully we will be seeing fewer cases of shingles with the vaccine for shingles. I suspect it may end up like pertussis (whooping cough) is now where we’re trying to give every adult an extra booster.
According to wikipedia the vaccine was first available in the USA in 1995, and I’m assuming just like most others it took at least a few years for the “news” to trickle down to GPs and school districts etc.
I’m 28 and I remember first hearing about a chicken pox vaccine in high school, and that was only for those who had never had chicken pox which was almost no one in my age group of course.
What gets me is how people estimate risk when it comes to diseases. Remember BSE? Cost billions in trade as people panicked, millions of cattle killed and disposed of, permanently changed the import and export of meat in several world markets. Total number of cases of BSE worldwide to date are 280 confirmed human deaths. It’s not an easily communicable disease from human to human, unless you’re a cannibal, and even with cattle only the unbelievably shitty conditions of a feedlot combined with absolutely horrifying slaughtering and feeding practices made it commonly transmitted.
Varicela, on the other hand: “…about 4 million people would get chickenpox each year in the United States. Also, about 10,600 people were hospitalized and 100 to 150 died each year as a result of chickenpox.” (CDC) And people used to take their kids to chicken pox parties.
I’ve realized I’ll never really understand the way most people think, because at least half the time I think they’re fucking insane.
Sorry, Spain.
In the UK it’s because chickenpox vaccine isn’t available on the NHS and most parents wouldn’t think of going private for it (or might not be able to afford it), so it’s best to get the disease over with when the kids are at an age where the illness is least likely to have serious repercussions. It’s got nothing at all to do with being anti-vaccination.
The reason it’s not available on the NHS is because in theory it would increase the number of shingles cases, though TBH I’m not exactly sure how they work that out. I guess that’s an indicator of how very not seriously chickenpox is taken in the UK.
4 million people got chicken pox a year, 105 died, and those that didn’t die received lifetime immunity. Meanwhile, “adults have about twenty times higher risk of dying from chickenpox than children,” so only about 5 of those who died were children. it seems your accusation that people “can’t understand how to estimate risk” is a rather broad statement. Most of the improvement in death rates due to the vaccine has been improvement for adults.
The reason for “chicken pox parties” was to ensure that children got the virus at the time when they were most able to fight it off – after infancy, and below the age of 10. There really isn’t anything hard to understand about it. Smallpox vaccination was started the same way, from a cultural practice of finding a mild case of the disease and rubbing the pus into a scratch on the skin. Intentionally receiving a dose of the live virus in a way that stacks the odds in favor of survival.
I had chicken pox when I was a kid - no vaccine at the time and I was in the UK. My sister who was 18 at the time caught it from me and where I breezed through it relatively speaking apart from the itchies she was pretty ill and off school (just before doing her A-levels) for almost 3 weeks. When I got it there were a few of my friends who had not had it at the time so they came over and played for a couple of hours. Then 10-15 days later the spots came out and they had it. That was common in the late 80’s/early 90’s - the “get it while you are kid as it is easier” theory.
I did not know there was a vaccine until a couple of years ago when I saw a poster at the pharmacy - I am now in the US. My husband also had chicken pox as a kid but about 3 years ago he had a shingles attack. Oh my goodness it was bad - and he had another flare last winter.
My 4 year old is currently recovering from a mild case of the pox. He was vaccinated and has his first booster.
His doctor was amazed and said she had not seen a single case in at least a year. One of her first questions was if he had been to the Magic Kingdom lately as tourists often bring odd strains over.
Nothing as exotic as Disney… the Orlando International Airport.
Relax, it’s not solely an anti-vax thing. My daughter got CP from her cousin at a “CP sleepover.” My sister invited Sophie over letting us know what was going on, and figuring that a physician trained at Duke and Vanderbilt knew what she was talking about, we dropped Sophie off about an hour later. And trust me, Rebecca is not anti-vax.
Per your link, half of the deaths were children, and 11,000 to 12,000 cases required hospitalization. So you’re still wrong about the risk assessment. Care to try again?