DD has chickenpox - I haven’t had it

[Fizxy]

So DD started with chicken pox yesterday. I’ve never knowingly had it. I have been exposed - my brother had it when we were kids and I’ve been around other kids who’ve had it. I’m kind of hoping I’ve got natural immunity but I’m also now panicking if I haven’t and I catch it off DD it’s going to be bad 😩. We’re due to go away in just over 2 weeks. Should I try and get vaccinated or has the horse bolted?!

I also have a 1 year old….

You or the one year old will get it in the next couple of weeks. I’d talk to the pharmacist. adult chickenpox can be terrible and you can take antivirals.

I have never knowingly had it but had to be tested when I was pregnant. I already had immunity and the theory was it was from when my sibling had chickenpox in childhood.

Hate to be a downer but I'd expect your younger one to get it exactly 2 weeks later from dc2. That was the pattern when it went through our nursery class.

You can get vaccinated after exposure and that's supposed to help lessen the chances of you developing it. The incubation period can be up to 3 weeks so you wouldn't know for a while if either of you have caught it

I don’t think you’d be able to get the vaccine if you’re in direct contact with someone with CP.

DD2 had CP awfully several years ago, I asked about a vaccine for DD1 and was told I had to wait a certain time period - a month? -before she could get it, as it was likely she would get it imminently.

The vaccine works for up to 5 days post exposure. I would be phoning all of the local places and beginning for a vaccine for both you and DD as soon as they open this morning!

If you've been exposed you've almost certainly got immunity.

However, your one year old is going to come down with it in about two weeks 🤦 Getting a vaccination in now can help - my friend managed to prevent her younger child from getting it before a holiday by doing that.

https://www.cdc.gov/chickenpox/hcp/vaccine-considerations/index.html

Post-exposure vaccination
ACIP recommends that after being exposed to varicella or herpes zoster, people with no evidence of immunity and who are eligible for vaccination should get varicella vaccine.

• Ideally, the vaccine should be given within 3 to 5 days after the person is exposed. This may prevent varicella or make it less severe.

Try to get vaccinated ASAP (today if possible). You'll likely still get it but it may make it milder.

Superdrug says:

Chickenpox is transmitted directly by close contact or droplet spread and it can take several days for symptoms to develop. If you believe your child has been exposed to chickenpox and is not showing any symptoms, they may still have the vaccine. Vaccination within 3 days of exposure may help prevent chickenpox or reduce the severity of disease, resulting in fewer skin lesions and a shorter period of illness. However, there is limited information that being vaccinated up to 5 days after exposure may reduce disease severity.

They might not.

Our youngst was exposed in nursery for years. Never caught it.
She had the jabs entering primary.

I suspect you have immunity, my son never visibly had chicken pox as a child, despite being exposed to it several times. He then proved he had had it by getting shingles!

I’m kind of fully expecting my 1 year old to get it. We’re not going abroad so I’m hoping that we could still go away if he gets it and the poor kid will just be confined to the caravan with one of us until he’s all scabbed over. Im probably naively assuming he won’t be too bad because he’s so young. I’m more worried that if I get it I’ll be out of action for weeks and the holiday probably wouldn’t be happening.

I’ve been having a look at pharmacies locally and none that you can book online have anything within the next few days. There’s a few private clinics nearby that I’m going to try and ring today and hopefully they can offer something

I caught it at 38 from my son. I had been exposed lots of times before too but never caught it. I was really ill and developed a chest infection and infected spots. Get antivirals if at all possible!

Get vaccinated ASAP! And your 1 year old!

your 1 year old will almost certainly get it, hopefully you won’t

I have never knowingly had cp. But then when I had a dc in nursery and it was going round and I was pregnant I got an immunity test (via GP) which said I DID have immunity.

My mother is adamant I never had it, but the likelihood is it was so mild she didn’t notice!
it would be almost impossible to not be exposed in this country I think

btw one of mine had it when about 18 months and was only about 4 spots and basically fine.

Praying you don’t get it, my partner caught it off our 4 year old who’d just started school and he was seriously ill because of it, he was 37.

I definitely wouldn’t presume it won’t be too bad for your 1yo because he’s young. The severity is often based on exposure - which is why siblings can get it so much worse as they’ve been around the infected child for longer.

I too would be doing everything I could to vaccinate your 1yo asap.

Chicken pox in adults is so so bad. I hope you don’t get it. You shouldn’t be worried about your 1yr old you should worry about you

So I’m not having much luck so far 😫

I’ve rang round several pharmacies and private clinics and most have told me they won’t vaccinate children (?! Which I’m a bit confused about as I thought it was mostly kids getting the vaccine) or they don’t offer it at all. The best offer I’ve got is a pharmacist who has agreed to vaccinate me but not my 1 year old and she needs to order the vaccine so won’t be able to do it until Monday?? Is that too late? 😥 I’m so worried about it all now and annoyed with myself for not preempting this was going to happen

Have you tried Boots? They vaccinated my son a few years ago.

Trouble is that everyone is different, one of mine had it at 17 months and ended up in hospital with an ulcerated cornea, the other had it at 3 and said "what's this spot?" mummy. (She had a few more, but so mild compared to her sister.)

Yes I’ve tried our local boots - the pharmacy isn’t trained to do it (told you im not having any luck… this is what I’m coming up against everywhere I ring 😫). Just found one that can do me and my son but still nothing until Monday because they need to order the vaccine

Ok Monday looks like the best option I’ve got - is there any point? It will be 4/5 days since the spots appeared but probably 6 days since the runny nose started (and I’m guessing that would be the day from exposure?!)

Im not sure what to do. I don’t want to throw £££ away if having the vaccine at that point is going to be ineffective anyway because everything I’ve read says more than 5 days then the vaccine doesn’t really make any difference

After 3 hours of ringing round I’ve finally found somewhere that can do it today! The relief! Going this afternoon

Fingers crossed! I had a booster jab for CP when I worked in a hospital lab, bit of a dead arm but not as bad as the tetanus booster jab!