Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Parenting
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 10-24-2010, 01:42 PM
 
Location: Foot of the Rockies
90,316 posts, read 120,488,465 times
Reputation: 35920

Advertisements

Quote:
Originally Posted by purehuman View Post
You're not immune if you've never had it....just lucky.
Some people who have no known history of chickenpox actually are immune. It is possible to get a blood test to see if the poster is one of them.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 10-24-2010, 01:58 PM
 
Location: anywhere
1,731 posts, read 4,675,490 times
Reputation: 1889
Quote:
Originally Posted by Katiana View Post
Some people who have no known history of chickenpox actually are immune. It is possible to get a blood test to see if the poster is one of them.
That is interesting. I never knew that. Despite the fact that I catch almost anything in existence, I am about to turn 39 and have never had the chickenpox or measles even though I have been around kids who were sick with both. Which means the idea of chickenpox parties near my house terrifies me lol. I will have to ask my doc about being tested for immunity. Thanks so much for posting this info. I learn a lot from posters here at CD.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-24-2010, 02:03 PM
 
13,513 posts, read 19,237,203 times
Reputation: 16580
[quote=Katiana;16382100]Actually, I have seen many unimmunized kids. We have some in our practice. They look just like the other kids. They get the same illnesses, plus some get vaccine preventable diseases, most frequently pertussis and chickenpox.[/quote have you not seen a vaxed kid with chickenpox, or pertussis? Peace of Mind
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-24-2010, 03:05 PM
 
Location: Foot of the Rockies
90,316 posts, read 120,488,465 times
Reputation: 35920
I've seen some immunized kids with chickenpox, yes. They have much milder cases, and the pox don't become full-blown nasty things that leave scars. I've never seen an immunized kid with pertussis, though it can happen. Again, the disease is usually much milder, but the cough can still last a long time.

That link is just pure BS. I don't have the time to go through and refute all of it, and there may be some grains of truth in some of the articles, but it's hokum. For one, the huge numbers of deaths from swine vaccine never did materialize, to the dismay of some anti-immunization folks, I'm sure.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-24-2010, 09:20 PM
 
13,513 posts, read 19,237,203 times
Reputation: 16580
Quote:
Originally Posted by Katiana View Post
I've seen some immunized kids with chickenpox, yes. They have much milder cases, and the pox don't become full-blown nasty things that leave scars. I've never seen an immunized kid with pertussis, though it can happen. Again, the disease is usually much milder, but the cough can still last a long time.

That link is just pure BS. I don't have the time to go through and refute all of it, and there may be some grains of truth in some of the articles, but it's hokum. For one, the huge numbers of deaths from swine vaccine never did materialize, to the dismay of some anti-immunization folks, I'm sure.
You're right, they didn't materialize, they just died.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-24-2010, 09:29 PM
 
Location: Foot of the Rockies
90,316 posts, read 120,488,465 times
Reputation: 35920
Quote:
Originally Posted by purehuman View Post
You're right, they didn't materialize, they just died.
Cute way to twist my words. You knew what I meant.
There were no huge numbers of deaths from the swine flu vaccine.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/boos...-who-says.html

There have been about 40 deaths worldwide among people who have recently been vaccinated against pandemic H1N1 influenza, but there is no evidence the deaths are related to the vaccine, officials from the World Health Organization said today. At least 65 million people have been vaccinated, and it is inevitable that there will be some deaths among such a large group, said Dr. Marie-Paule Kieny, director for the Initiative for Vaccine Research at the WHO. Although some investigations are still ongoing, she said at a news conference in Geneva, "results of the completed investigations reported to WHO have ruled out that the pandemic vaccine is the cause of death."
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-25-2010, 08:32 AM
 
Location: Oxford, Connecticut
526 posts, read 1,000,805 times
Reputation: 571
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kathleen1971 View Post
That is interesting. I never knew that. Despite the fact that I catch almost anything in existence, I am about to turn 39 and have never had the chickenpox or measles even though I have been around kids who were sick with both. Which means the idea of chickenpox parties near my house terrifies me lol. I will have to ask my doc about being tested for immunity. Thanks so much for posting this info. I learn a lot from posters here at CD.
I grew up before the chicken pox vaccine and as a kid never got it. I was around it quite a bit and at one time half of my 2nd grade class was sick with it. When I was 24 I worked for a company with a man in his early 20s. He had a young brother who was 5. The parents didn't vaccinate and the 5 YO got Chicken Pox, who then gave it to his brother who gave it to me and another gentleman we worked with. It was terrible - I was out of commision for months. The older man we worked with actually ended up in the ICU. The Chicken Pox are nothing to suffer gladly through if they can be prevented.

As an aside, the parents who didn't believe in vaccinating thier children against the chicken "pops" as they called it also told their sons they needed to pick all the scabs off. The older son had scars all over his face and body from his mothers advice.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-25-2010, 08:58 AM
 
Location: Geneva, IL
12,980 posts, read 14,536,888 times
Reputation: 14862
Quote:
Originally Posted by laulob View Post
I grew up before the chicken pox vaccine and as a kid never got it. I was around it quite a bit and at one time half of my 2nd grade class was sick with it. When I was 24 I worked for a company with a man in his early 20s. He had a young brother who was 5. The parents didn't vaccinate and the 5 YO got Chicken Pox, who then gave it to his brother who gave it to me and another gentleman we worked with. It was terrible - I was out of commision for months. The older man we worked with actually ended up in the ICU. The Chicken Pox are nothing to suffer gladly through if they can be prevented.

As an aside, the parents who didn't believe in vaccinating thier children against the chicken "pops" as they called it also told their sons they needed to pick all the scabs off. The older son had scars all over his face and body from his mothers advice.
Any of the childhood illnesses have the potential for devastating consequences. People in this country are very fortunate to have only every heard of these illnesses, or seen very mild cases. The downside to this, however, is that many people don't realize how awful these diseases can be. Herd immunity is a wonderful thing.

The last bad case of Chicken Pox I saw was working in a Pediatric ICU in New Orleans. An unimmunized 18 month-old child ended up with pox on his conjuctiva and larynx, and ended up losing his eyesight, and with a permanent tracheostomy.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-25-2010, 02:05 PM
 
Location: anywhere
1,731 posts, read 4,675,490 times
Reputation: 1889
Quote:
Originally Posted by laulob View Post
I grew up before the chicken pox vaccine and as a kid never got it. I was around it quite a bit and at one time half of my 2nd grade class was sick with it. When I was 24 I worked for a company with a man in his early 20s. He had a young brother who was 5. The parents didn't vaccinate and the 5 YO got Chicken Pox, who then gave it to his brother who gave it to me and another gentleman we worked with. It was terrible - I was out of commision for months. The older man we worked with actually ended up in the ICU. The Chicken Pox are nothing to suffer gladly through if they can be prevented.

As an aside, the parents who didn't believe in vaccinating thier children against the chicken "pops" as they called it also told their sons they needed to pick all the scabs off. The older son had scars all over his face and body from his mothers advice.
Wow. I can't believe someone would tell their kid to pick the scabs off. Scary that people that dumb are parents and passing their genes on to their offspring.

I hear you on an older person ending up in ICU. My cousin got the chicken pox in his early 50's and he too ended up in the ICU for quite a while. We were quite terrified for him. I felt awful that I couldn't go visit him but my doctor told me it would be quite dangerous for me to come in contact with him as I was already in my late 20's and had a weakened immune system.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-26-2010, 10:37 AM
 
Location: Georgia, USA
37,032 posts, read 41,094,361 times
Reputation: 44970
Quote:
Originally Posted by purehuman View Post
You're not immune if you've never had it....just lucky.

More likely to have had a very mild case and are immune. Most people who cannot remember having chickenpox have antibodies to the virus, indicating prior infection.

Edited to add: I posted before reading Katiana's post.

If you are an adult who has never had a known case of chickenpox, get the blood test. If you do not have antibodies, you can take the vaccine.
http://www.vaccineinformation.org/varicel/qandavax.asp :

Who should get this vaccine?
Chickenpox vaccine is recommended for the following:

  • All children younger than age 13 years (one dose at 12–15 months and a second dose at age 4–6 years);
  • Everyone age 13 years and older who has never had chickenpox (two doses, given 4–8 weeks apart);
Should adults be tested before vaccination to see if they are already immune to chickenpox?
Currently, 90% of adults are immune to chickenpox because of having had the disease as children. If you have a history of chickenpox disease, you don't need testing or vaccination, unless you are working in an environment where your immune status must be documented (such as in a hospital). If you are uncertain of your medical history, blood testing can be done to see if immunization is appropriate.


Isn't it better for a child to get chickenpox naturally?
Some parents purposely seek to get their children infected with varicella virus, even promoting "chickenpox parties" for this purpose. The belief is that it's better to be infected when young, a time when the infection is ordinarily less severe. Some parents also believe that something "natural" (the disease) is better than something "artificial" (the vaccine), or that immunity derived from the disease will be more permanent than that from the vaccine.

However, when a safe vaccine is available, parents need to weigh the supposed benefits of infection against its potential risks, including severe disease with complications such as infection with flesh-eating bacteria. No one can predict which child will develop a life-threatening case of chickenpox; in fact, most serious cases occur in previously healthy children. In addition, in a recent study, 7 out of 10 children said given the choice, they'd rather have the shot than have the natural disease. (Emphasis mine - Suzy_Q)

And that, IMHO, is a good reason not to have chickenpox parties!

Last edited by suzy_q2010; 10-26-2010 at 10:52 AM..
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:

Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Parenting
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6. The time now is 06:53 AM.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top