2 ms·
This is _exactly_ the reason why we wanted our kids to get chicken pox! Or at least that is the story we have all been told. I know personally at least 3 elder
by RobertRoberts 8y ago
This is _exactly_ the reason why we wanted our kids to get chicken pox!
Or at least that is the story we have all been told. I know personally at least 3 elderly people that have had shingles (or do right now) that had chicken pox as kids.
- shepardrtc 8y agoYou misunderstand. Shingles are a resurgence of chickenpox when you're old and your immune system is too weak to fight it off. Chickenpox is herpes. It hides in your body, but as long as you're healthy, your immune system doesn't have much issue fighting it off. When you get old, then it can come back and be potentially deadly.
- RobertRoberts 8y agoBut don't vaccines make your immune system stronger to fight off diseases?
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- cmurf 8y agoThat's the wrong logic. Getting chickenpox disease makes shingles possible, as the body replicates the virus and then it lies dormant to become reactivated decades later as shingles. If you avoid chickenpox disease through vaccination, you have a 50/50 chance of avoiding shingles entirely and if you do still get it, it will be milder because there was less replication when you had chickenpox. http://www.nfid.org/publications/factsheets/varicellaadult.pdf http://www.nfid.org/publications/factsheets/varicellaadult.p... Getting chickenpox on purpose is not as good or better than getting vaccinated for it.
- RobertRoberts 8y agoThis has been the logic up until the day a chicken pox vaccine was created. Some people have worse reactions to vaccines than just scars and itching.