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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Chicken pox parties

213 replies

RosebudTheCat · 07/12/2013 12:19

A relative has asked if I'd like to expose my two kids to her DD, who has chicken pox. My youngest is just 8mo. AIBU to think it was a stupid question to ask? Do people really still do 'chicken pox parties'?

OP posts:
rednellie · 09/12/2013 12:14

Right, after reading all that I'm def going to get the twins done. Thanks MrsDeVere, you've really helped me make my mind up. And Thanks to all of you whose dc have had an awful time with it, must have been horrible.Sad

rednellie · 09/12/2013 12:15

Right, after reading all that I'm def going to get the twins done. Thanks MrsDeVere, you've really helped me make my mind up. And Thanks to all of you whose dc have had an awful time with it, must have been horrible.Sad

rednellie · 09/12/2013 12:15

Right, after reading all that I'm def going to get the twins done. Thanks MrsDeVere, you've really helped me make my mind up. And Thanks to all of you whose dc have had an awful time with it, must have been horrible.Sad

rednellie · 09/12/2013 12:16

Oh bloody hell Blush

WhereIsMyHat · 09/12/2013 12:17

Coming back this morning to say my youngest, 16 months, slept for twenty minutes last night, fucking chicken pox. Get the vaccine!

Disclaimer, I am sleep deprived and not medically trained so take this post with a pinch of salt.

ProudAS · 09/12/2013 13:08

Before deciding not to take your DCs to a pox party think about this:

How would you feel in 25 years time if your DD got CP whilst pregnant or one of your DCs got it whilst their own child was undergoing cancer treatment and you know that you could probably have prevented it?

There is no right or wrong answer but consider both arguments.

TinyTear · 09/12/2013 13:19

We just gave the second dose of the vaccine last week... i paid £85 per dose but I don't care!

BackOnlyBriefly · 09/12/2013 13:21

I don't understand the 'moron' and similar comments. Do people not see that they are likely to get it anyway and possibly worse? Is the deciding factor simply that having them catch it at any age is better than any guilt you might feel?

I can understand the reluctance, I really can, but it seems a bit selfish.

If the vaccine is a safe and effective alternative then that is obviously better, but it seems that it might not be.

expatinscotland · 09/12/2013 13:47

Proud, one of the first things done before a child starts chemo is ask about such diseases and vaccines. My son was vaccinated by our GP whilst D1 was in hospital awaiting chemo. Ditto if you are pregnant.

TimeIsAnIllusion · 09/12/2013 13:48

ProudAS there may not be chicken pox around like it is now in 25y time as vaccinating might be the norm in the future.

How likely is it that a child will inadvertently get cp without deliberately taking them to a "cp "?! Most kids get it anyway without the need for any such germ swapping gatherings.

My sis was exposed to cp through siblings as a child and never got it herself. Blood tests (as an adult in pregnancy) showed natural immunity.

expatinscotland · 09/12/2013 13:53

My DDs got it from DD1s nursery. DD1 was very ill with it. I know two people IRL whose children died. It is only 'rare' when it doesn't happen to you or your loved one.

MrsDeVere · 09/12/2013 15:04

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

expatinscotland · 09/12/2013 15:33

When the DDs got it, there was no vaccine and I wasn't even pregnant with DS, but if there had been a vaccine, I'd have got it for them.

bumbleymummy · 09/12/2013 16:55

expat - it is considered 'rare' when you look at population data as a whole and see that only a small minority of people have complications. Yes, when you read a thread like this on mumsnet and hear all the horror stories about complications it seems like the risk is much higher but the reality of it is that it is usually a self-limiting disease in children without complications or any long term effects.

Lots of illnesses are potentially severe - As I mentioned earlier, even catching a cold can result in serious complications. It doesn't even have the benefit of giving us lifelong immunity either! (unlike CP) Most children will have at least one cold every year - every one has the potential to result in complications.

diplodocus · 09/12/2013 17:05

"A lot of these issues would be solved if selfish fuckwits didn't insist on taking their infectious children out in public."
While I certainly don't condone people doing this it wouldn't make any difference at a population level. People are infectious before they get symptoms. If you aren't immunised there is an almost 100% chance that you will get CP, usually as a child and if not as an adult (which you really don't want - so avoiding it as a child is certainly not a good thing). It's a rather unpleasant fact of life. And immunisation increases the risk of shingles so is not necessarily a suitable public health intervention. If you don't want your child to get it then immunise, but you won't be able to avoid it and even if you do your child will be at risk at an adult.

IneedAsockamnesty · 09/12/2013 17:36

And immunisation increases the risk of shingles

Something I read yesterday can't remember what it was it it was linked to through the NHS site as those are the only ones I tend to biter with did say that in the country's that have the cp jab as a normal childhood vax and have done for many years show no evidence of this and I'm pretty sure the info as to why the uk does not uses fairly vague language so could instead of does.

It just interested me.

DazzleU · 09/12/2013 17:36

umm.edu/health/medical/reports/articles/shingles-and-chickenpox-varicellazoster-virus

Since a varicella vaccine became available in the U.S. in 1995, the incidence of disease and hospitalizations due to chickenpox has declined by nearly 90%.

There are two types of varicella vaccines:
A chickenpox vaccine for vaccinating children, adolescents, and adults
A shingles vaccine for vaccinating adults age 50 years and older

And immunisation increases the risk of shingles so is not necessarily a suitable public health intervention.

That statement is a little miss leading:
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2563790/
Vaccine strains are, as far as we know, less likely to reactivate to cause shingles.

It is not necessary to vaccinate everyone to reduce chickenpox to very low levels—to cause an infection to die out in a community it is only necessary to vaccinate a sufficient proportion such that the average case on average transmits the infection to less than one person.

However if your talking not about the vaccinated DC but the older population:

Mathematical models predict that shingles in the unvaccinated would initially increase by 30%–50% if childhood vaccination rates were high, and would decrease thereafter. Combined results from three studies suggest the increased incidence of shingles would last for 30–50 years and would affect mostly those aged 10–44 years at the time of vaccine introduction.8,11,12 The greater the chickenpox vaccination rates the higher the initial incidence of shingles would be until everyone was vaccinated (in other words until those of us my age who harbour varicella zoster virus in our nervous ganglia die off).

It's possible to vaccinate both elderly with shingles vaccine and young with chickenpox and avoid that issue so it not being in the public health interest isn't clear cut.

expatinscotland · 09/12/2013 17:38

Feel free to risk your kids on that then, bumble, because I for one could not, hand on heart, live with myself if my child were one of those who died after I deliberately exposed them to disease. I find that so far beyond irresponsible I cannot even qualify it without probably getting banned.

MrsDeVere · 09/12/2013 17:39

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Xmasbaby11 · 09/12/2013 17:42

That's insane - too young, can be very serious in under 1s.

I never had it so had the vaccination after I had DD. I'd consider getting DD vaccinated as it's nasty illness.

DazzleU · 09/12/2013 17:46

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varicella_vaccine

Lots of data here and I've no idea how accurate but it does support what Sockreturningpixie was saying

It has been claimed that adult shingles may increase after introduction of varicella vaccine. ... While research using computer models has tended to support the hypothesis that vaccination programs would increase incidence of zoster in the short term, the evidence from epidemiological studies is mixed ... and increases observed in zoster incidence in some studies may not be related to vaccination programs, as the incidence increases prior to the varicella vaccine program being initiated. ...^

Honestly don't get why we don't vaccinate routinely in UK - as the vaccine been shown to be safe to DC and the expected rise in shingles doesn't appear to happen, as shingle activation is poorly understood anyway not a huge surprise models and RL differ.

stillenacht · 09/12/2013 17:46

My DS got chicken pox at 9 mo. It undoubtedly contributed to his development of epilepsy and low functioning autism. Chicken pox can be v dangerousHmm

MrsDeVere · 09/12/2013 17:57

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

diplodocus · 09/12/2013 17:58

It's the inevitability of CP in the unvaccinated population that I think is different and why people may expose willingly - and why, while I wouldn't do it myself, I don't think it's worthy of the reaction from many people on here. You're not exposing them to anything they're not going to get at another (possibly more dangerous / difficult) time. Agree people should stick with quarantine requirements (I did strictly) but this isn't what drives the infection risk. I think if I had my time again I'd probably immunise.

MrsDeVere · 09/12/2013 18:13

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

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