Can chicken pox make one sterile?

[WinkyWinkola]

Is this a reason why one should get the jab? Someone said this to me this evening. I'd never heard of sterility being an outcome of chicken pox.

I think they're getting confused with mumps! But it is true that the older you are, the worse CP is.

Confused with mumps for sure - never heard of chickenpox being associated with sterility.

Does the jab confer lifelong immunity then?

No CP does not cause sterility - neither does mumps ( although this is a common mistake - it may, in very rare cases, reduce fertility)

The CP vaccine does not give lifelong immunity.

Also, risks with CP and mumps are higher in adulthood.

But do the manufacturers of the CP vaccine say it gives lifellong immunity? Do you have to keep getting boosters

I don't think they do. Yes, you need to get boosters and the vaccine is less effective in adulthood as well so you could be left unprotected.

Thank you!

Mumps very rarely make one sterile:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mumps

Catrinm - if you read actual studies other than Wiki you will see that in very rare cases it will reduce sperm count in post pubescent males - not make them sterile.

Information on the HPA website here

?Despite common belief there is no firm evidence that orchitis causes sterility"

Okay, granted but the complications can still be significant:

www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Mumps/Pages/Complications.aspx

In adults, yes complications are more common - orchitis, oophoritis etc (as they've stated on the nhs website - 'after puberty'. There are rarely any complications in childhood. Viral meningitis is not as serious as bacterial meningitis but people read 'meningitis' and think the worst. I don't think I would call them 'significant' at all tbh. They are very rare and only encephalitis (which is listed as a rare but potentially serious complication) is life threatening - and it is a potential complication with most viral illnesses. Would you class all viruses as having significant complications for that reason?

Potentially yes. And any vaccines that are recommended by the NHS my DCs have.

You didn't mention pancreatitis as a complication of mumps;

Are you selective with your vaccines? Are you medically trained?

You (I think) regularly post about evidence about the importance of breastfeeding( which is fab, I breastfed both of my DCs) but seem to ignore research on vaccines!

Catrinm - I don't ignore research on vaccines at all but I do read about the diseases that vaccinations are recommended for and don't just blindly vaccinate because I am told to do so and I would encourage others to do the same. Many people know very little about them and believe things like 'mumps causes sterility'. Mumps and Rubella are not risky illnesses in childhood so I would rather that my children caught them and had natural, lifelong immunity without having to worry about boosters and whether or not they are still immune in adulthood. Both boys had rubella when they were under a year - we didn't even know that the youngest was ill until he broke out in the rash and the doctor asked us to bring him in just to check him over! They may have already have mumps (30% of cases are asymptomatic and many more don't have the swollen glands.) so we will have them tested for immunity before they hit puberty. Vaccines don't guarantee anything and the mumps component of the MMR is the least effective iirc.

Re. pancreatitis - what would you like me to say about it? It is another rare symptom that is more likely to occur in adulthood and the majority of people will make a full recovery. Every illness has potentially life threatening consequences but people only seem to worry about the ones that vaccines are available for - why is that?

When I was 7, my siblings and I had the mumps. My mother, a nurse, hadn't had them as a child, and wore a mask at home to take care of us. I heard a crash in the middle of the night and found her passed out on the kitchen floor. There was no 911 in 1968. I couldn't wake her. I found my grandmother's phone number and she came over straight away. She also had difficulty waking her. With 3 crying kids: me, my sister (6) and brother (4), she called for an ambulance. My mother spent the next 2 weeks in the hospital with the mumps; the first week in the ICU with the worst complications including pancreatitis and encephalitis. My grandmother called my father to come to take care of his kids, as she wanted to be at her daughter's side because initially my mom wasn't excepted to survive. (My parent's were divorced and he lived over 7 hours away.) She survived, but not before she lost some of her hearing and went through a horrible trauma for herself and children. (We weren't allowed to visit her for nearly 2 weeks, until my father snuck us up to see her after she was out of ICU and doing better). This was before the mumps vaccine. Both my mother and sister (both RN's) and brother-in-law (a MD) say that complications from the measles can be even worse. As long as my son wasn't ill, I didn't hesitate to have him receive the MMR at age 15 months (he was born in 1985). I told him what happened to his grandmother, and he didn't hesitate to have his healthy daughters (born 2011 and 2013) vaccinated with the MMR either.

bubbleymummy, sorry you can't say the CP vaccine does not offer life long immunity, what is that based on? It has been around for over 30 years and data in the US shows that after 15 years its still as effective as day 1. If the vaccine is given routinely to children then no need for boosters, and if not then well it's doing the rounds and the body has been exposed already so won't catch again from repeat exposure otherwise every adult would get shingles from the age of 18 onwards as opposed to over 60.