Chicken Pox in adulthood

[Alice S. Fuzzybutt]

I never had chicken pox as a kid. Sure, it went around my school several times but I always seemed to luck out and miss it. I've heard catching chicken pox in adulthood is really bad. Why? And can some people have a built-in immunity to chicken pox?

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[zathrus]

I have also heard that getting chicken pox as an adult is really bad. Never could find out why. Maybe because as a kid, you don't have to worry about bills and things like that? I was lucky I got them as a child. I also heard that if as a child you got a mild case of chicken pox, you could get them again. Anyone else heard of that one?

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[scorpion]

From the Mayo clinic. Hope this helps.

Chickenpox is caused by the varicella-zoster virus, a type of herpes virus. This virus is easily spread from person to person through the air and physical contact. Outbreaks of chickenpox are common in late winter and early spring - periods of moderate temperatures when viruses thrive.

Most people think of chickenpox as a mild disease - and, for most, it is. In otherwise healthy children, chickenpox lasts 2 weeks or less and rarely causes complications. But for adults who've never been in contact with the virus and get sick later in life, chickenpox can be serious. Complications from chickenpox can result in hospitalization and can even be life-threatening.



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Now I'm starvin

[HordeKing1]

Zathrus - I especially liked the part about the bills....

Ms. FUZZYBUTT - Adult chickenpox is far more dangerous than the type contracted during childhood.

Chicken pox as a kid isn't pleasant but it's not dangerous.

As a kid, chicken pox is characterized by small, red, itchy blisters. The blisters can cover the chest, face, scalp, genitals, arms and legs, inside the mouth and ears, under the armpits, and windpipe. Blisters usually dry out and form scabs in a few days.

Kids itch like hell, and may have a slight fever and feel tired but that's the extent of it.

Adults on the other hand get all of the above plus breathing difficulties including the possibility of pnemonia (which people still die from).

Many experts now believe that having chicken pox as a child does not guarantee you won't get it as an adult. Yipes!

Here's a few statistics to help you sleep better:

The hospitalization rate for adults with chicken pox is 14 to 18 hospitalizations per 1,000 cases, compared to 1 or 2 hospitalizations per 1,000 cases for children. Adults comprise only 2% of chicken pox cases, but are responsible for 47.5% of deaths.

The estimated death rate for chicken pox is 1.4 per 100,000 cases (0.00 14%) in normal children, but rises to 30.9 deaths per I 00,000 cases (0.0309 %) in adults. The death rate is 7% in children with leukemia.



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