Should DS mix with kids that have chicken pox although he already had had them?

[hulahoopsilove]

ds going to play at a friends who has chicken pox - can you catch it twice will it do him any harm?

yes you can although it is not that common, or he could get shingles, because the chicken pox virus never leaves your body.

You can't catch shingles and nor can shingles be activated by coming into contact with chicken pox.

It's not overly common to get them . more than once unless you got them very mild or under 12 months old.

Personally I would assume he's immune.

The vast majority of people can't get chicken pox twice. Some unfortunate individuals don't develop immunity properly and so do catch it a second or third time, but your DS would have to be very VERY unlucky to be in this group.

Contact with chicken pox also can't give him shingles. Shingles is caused by the virus in your body reactivating; in fact there is a theory (I don't know how much research backs it up, though) that frequent contact with "wild" chicken pox is one of the things that keeps the virus dormant and prevents a shingles outbreak.

(unless when he had chicken pox the first time he was under 12 months -- then it's not so unusual to not develop immunity the first time round)

My ds is 6 and he has had chicken pox 3 times, the first time he caught it very mildly, and the second wasn't too bad either. Third time was worse so hopefully that is it for him now. So, you can send him to play if you want, but you can't guarantee he won't get it again.

well sounds like he will be fine he had it age 2 however Igot it when I was 34 just after my honeymoon lol!!!

I wouldn't send him just because i know how ill my 3 year old was last week with it, it'd be horrible for your child to get it again.

its rare that he will re-get it reading the posts

If he's had it already he's most probably immune, and renewed contact with virus apparently helps boost that immunity, so is a good thing. My DS had a gruesome case of chicken pox, he looked like a plague victim and was vv poorly. I'd let him go to a friends house with chicken pox now.

Not an answer to your question...but when I was young, if a kid had chicken pox we were all sent round theirs in the hope we'd get it! Better to get it younger.

You can catch it twice, but I wouldn't worry about it.