Please help - chicken pox exposure and IVF/v early pregnancy

[ControlGeek]

Not sure how often I'll be able to check this thread as I'm at work, but I've just found out that a colleague I work v closely with has a daughter just diagnosed with chicken pox. Colleague and I have both already had chicken pox ourselves but I know you can get it more than once.

I am due for IVF egg collection tomorrow, and having embryo transfer on either Sunday or Tuesday, depending on quality.

How worried should I be? Colleague knows about IVF situation and understood when I said I would keep my distance from him as best I am able today.

Please help - what are my risks? Should I be worried? Will keeping my distance physically be enough?

Crikey, sorry I haven't any useful advice on this, hopefully someone in the know will be along soon.

Oh dear, you sound so worried. I don't know about IVF but am familiar with chicken pox. For the vast majority of people, if you have had chicken pox once then you will have developed antibodies to the disease so if you come into contact with it a second time, you wont catch it. It is possible to get it a second time if your body made insufficient antibodies when you first had it but it is much more likely that you did. For you to catch it a second time in your circumstances, then both you and your colleague will have to be one of the people who didn't make enough antibodies the first time, and it is most unlikely that you both are.

As a real life example, most people do not catch chicken pox from their own children when they have it and they are in much closer contact with them than your situation.

Chicken pox is spread in the same way as a cold - through droplets from the nose or mouth, so you would catch if from someone sneezing on you, sharing cups or cutlery, or if you touched something that they had sneezed on and then touched your mouth or nose yourself.

For your own peace of mind, you will probably feel better if you keep your distance and wash your hands regularly, but I think it is highly unlikely you will catch it.

Hope that helps a little - good luck with your treatment.

Thank you monikar that's really reassuring to know. I had quite a nasty dose in my early twenties so hope I've got pretty good immunity to it now.

I'm going to carry on keeping my distance for today (and hand washing when possible), and will just mention it to the clinic at egg collection tomorrow.

Thanks again :)