Do all kids get chicken pox?

[TallulahBetty]

Hi all. DD is 7 next month and has never had pox. She managed to avoid it at nursery and I dont think it has gone round at school since she has been there. Is this normal? Most of my friends' kids have had it. Is it going to cause issues if she is older if/when she eventually gets it?

I was 15 when i got chicken pox, then shingles at 33 and chicken pox again at 35 so it depends...

My children haven’t yet. My eldest is 8 and has been around children who have gone on to have it and my husband had shingles but nothing has been passed on.

Increasingly people are choosing to vaccinate their children against chickenpox, as is standard in many other countries, so not all kids will get it at all. It could be your child spends time with vaccinated children or those who have already had it (herd immunity) but she won’t be protected if she does come into it in the future.

Not every child will - some people get it for the first time as adults. It doesn’t necessarily cause issues to get it when older.
But also she may have had it really mildly. when I was a child my friends and siblings all had it but my mum didn’t think I had. I had to get tested at medical school because I was exposed to a child with chicken pox and it turns out I have antibodies so I must have caught it when I was younger, just very mildly. My poor mum was mortified but swears blind I wasn’t ever ill and didn’t have a single spot, whereas my siblings had it quite badly

I'm naturally immune so never got it as a kid or when when my kids got it

I never did but got it in my early 30's and it was bloody awful. Knocked me off my feet for two weeks.

Mine haven’t and won’t as I had them immunised. I hadn’t even considered doing so until the little boy next door ended up in hospital nearly dying from sepsis as a result of CP.

My husband got it at the age of 38. I always thought that his mum had just forgotten that he'd had it. But no -
He got it and then one child and then the next. They were all pretty poorly but DH particularly.

A friend of mine got it at 18 and was really really poorly.
I think if my 7 year old hadn’t had it yet I’d pay to vaccinate.

My DH got it when he was 35 and ended up in ITU with a 50-50 chance of dying. If my child hadn't had it by teenage years I would vaccinate. But as your child is only 7, there's plenty of time to catch it yet

I got it aged 2 0yo, despite my dsis having it round me and various good friends over the years.
Instead I caught it at uni and literally no one else I knew had it, so I don't even know who I got it from.
My college nurse said her husband had it so badly in his 40s that it caused a small pox scare as it was just after they thought it had been eradicated.

However I would have some concerns on the vaccination. There have been some studies (in the US where the vaccination has been going longer) where it looks like you are more likely to get shingles if you had the vaccination as opposed to the disease.
Shingles can be not too bad (when I got it, it was much milder than chicken pox!) but not always.
Most vaccinations can wear out or become less effective over time. That might mean that you're more likely to catch it in your 30s/40s/50s and chickenpox does seem to be worse when you're older.
I'm generally very pro-vaccinations, but this is one I'm a bit wary of.

Thanks all. I had it, And also shingles, when I was younger. Sounds a lot nastier the older you get!

Vaccinate and then revaccinate when older