My feed
Premium

Please
or
to access all these features

Mumsnet doesn't verify the qualifications of users. If you have medical concerns, please consult a healthcare professional.

Covid

Will ChickenPox and other viruses die out under lockdown?

18 replies

RandomlyChosenName · 13/04/2020 11:57

Just wondering- will the lockdown will affect other viruses?
How can chicken pox etc still transmit? Will they die out? Chicken Pox incubation is about 2 weeks...

Sorry- I’m not a scientist.

OP posts:
Report
wendz86 · 13/04/2020 12:00

My daughter got it on the last day of school and other kids in her class have got it up to 2 1/2 weeks later but i guess it will die down over the next few weeks when normally it would be peak season for it.

Report
Redpurplegreen · 13/04/2020 12:01

Key workers children are still in school so no.

Report
2tired2bewitty · 13/04/2020 12:02

I bet nits are worried!

Report
TheLovleyChebbyMcGee · 13/04/2020 12:07

Nope, but it may lead to older kids and teenagers getting it instead of when they are 6-7 years old, more impact on important exams etc

Report
RandomlyChosenName · 13/04/2020 12:25

There are very few key worker children in schools though, so the amount of children who haven’t had CP and are key worker children must be extremely low and the chance of them coming into contact with another infectious child must be very low too.

What about other diseases caused by viruses like Measles then? The chances of anyone having and being able to pass that one must be so vanishingly small - even more than chickenpox because of the vaccine...?

OP posts:
Report
LilQueenie · 13/04/2020 12:31

It won't die out. The flu we have today comes from the 1918 flue pandemic. It is thought covid 19 will become seasonal too. With any luck it will mutate to a less virulant from like the flu did.

Report
Abraid2 · 13/04/2020 12:33

My MMR-vaccinated 20-year-old managed to catch mumps!

Report
suzeb · 13/04/2020 12:33

My 3 year old got chicken pox one week into lockdown, but was quite expecting it as he had been exposed to it at the childminder’s a couple of weeks before.

Report
Dilbertian · 13/04/2020 12:44

No, because there is a reservoir of chicken pox virus in older people. If they develop shingles (the likelihood of which is increased by stress) then they can infect anyone who has not already had chicken pox.

Report
Dilbertian · 13/04/2020 12:49

OTOH maybe it will break the current increasing transmission of measles and mumps (which my MMRd 20yo also caught at university). And then perhaps the fear of pandemic will influence parents to immunise their children! My 20yo survived mumps, but will have to live the rest of their life with the damage it caused them.

Report
Kokeshi123 · 13/04/2020 13:11

Things like measles are airborne. You only need one person walking through a supermarket incubating measles, and anyone not immune who walks through there for the next few hours has a high chance of becoming infected. Ditto chickenpox and many other childhood diseases, although none of them are quite as infectious as measles. Plus, key workers' kids.

It's possible that vaccination rates will go up as a result of the fear created by the pandemic, although there is also concern that vaccination rates will fall due to parents avoiding hospitals and general chaos.

Worldwide, resurgences of childhood diseases are fully expected because this usually happens in poor countries whenever you have an outbreak of something new. In the wake of the Ebola outbreak a couple of years ago, I believe that the additional deaths from measles which were attributed to interrupted vaccination programs, are believed to be about the same as the number who died from Ebola itself. SO there will be cases coming in from other countries in any case.

Report
YeOldeTrout · 13/04/2020 13:57

World didn't shut down in 1918 like we have this time, though.

There will be a lot less norovirus & HF&M disease spreading, that kind of thing, right now.

Report
NotEverythingIsBlackandwhite · 13/04/2020 14:11

I don't think viruses will die out because too many people aren't really following the rules.

Shingles won't die out because of the lockdown. It is caused by the Varicella-Zosta virus, the same one that causes Chickenpox. Once you have Chickenpox it lies dormant within your spine and you can then re-infect yourself, particularly when you are under stress. It is highly likely that there will be more people with Shingles as a result of the stress of restrictions.

Report
NotEverythingIsBlackandwhite · 13/04/2020 14:18

@Dilbertian

If they develop shingles (the likelihood of which is increased by stress) then they can infect anyone who has not already had chicken pox.
You can catch only catch chickenpox from someone with shingles through contact with their secretions or their skin rash though. If you practice good hygiene it isn't a problem is it?

Report
LilQueenie · 13/04/2020 16:24

YeOldeTrout perhaps not the same degree but they did use social distancing.

Report
Roomba · 13/04/2020 16:34

My MMR-vaccinated 20-year-old managed to catch mumps!

So did I (aged 35) and it was horrible! Caught it from DS who had had the first MMR jab but not the second yet.

Report
Abraid2 · 13/04/2020 16:47

Oh interesting! My child has had both jabs but thinks there’s a milder strain around that wasn’t covered by MMR.

Report
Roomba · 13/04/2020 16:57

I was told that my immunity from the vaccine had probably worn off, as they only last so long. Or perhaps it never worked for me in the first place and I was just lucky up til then.

Report
Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.