When I take Willow to the Pediatrician and she gets any kind of shots, the doctor gives us a pamphlet with information on the shots. So, since everyone is all up in arms about the links between vaccinations and things like autism, I thought I'd take an in-depth look at the vaccinations. Next in line is the Varicella (chickenpox) Vaccination.
The United States' Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Vaccinations and Immunizations section has a recommended immunization schedule that you can download. They also have a lot of great information for each and every vaccination so this is where I will start in my search for information. Here is their pamphlet on the Varicella Vaccination.
The Varicella Vaccination is given in two doses. The first dose can be administered when your child is between 12 and 15 months of age and the second when the child is between 4 and 6 years old. People 13 years of age and older (who have never had chickenpox or received chickenpox vaccine) should get two doses at least 28 days apart.
First, what exactly is Varicella (chickenpox)?
Chickenpox is a highly contagious illness caused by primary infection with varicella zoster virus (VZV). It generally begins with a vesicular skin rash appearing in two or three waves, mainly on the body and head rather than the hands and becoming itchy raw pockmarks, small open sores which heal mostly without scarring.
Chickenpox has a 10-21 day incubation period and is spread easily through aerosolized droplets from the nasopharynx of ill individuals or through direct contact with secretions from the rash. Following primary infection there is usually lifelong protective immunity from further episodes of chickenpox.
Chickenpox is rarely fatal, although it is generally more severe in adults than in children. Pregnant women and those with a suppressed immune system are at highest risk of serious complications. The most common late complication of chicken pox is shingles, caused by reactivation of the varicella zoster virus decades after the initial episode of chickenpox.
Why get vaccinated? Chickenpox is usually mild, but it occasionally causes serious problems. The blisters can become infected, and some children get encephalitis. Among infants less than 1 year old who get the disease, about 1 in 250,000 die. For older children, about 1 in 100,000 die. If a woman gets chickenpox just before or after giving birth, her baby can get very sick, and about 1 in 3 of these babies will die if not treated quickly. About 1 child in 500 who gets chickenpox is hospitalized (about 1 in 50 adults). After a person has chickenpox the virus stays in the body. Years later it can cause a painful disease called herpes zoster, or shingles.
How about a brief History of Varicella? Chickenpox was first identified by the Persian physician, Muhammad ibn Zakariya ar-Razi (865–925), known to the West as "Rhazes", who clearly distinguished it from smallpox and measles. Giovanni Filippo (1510–1580) of Palermo later provided a more detailed description of varicella (chickenpox). Subsequently in the 1600s, an English physician named Richard Morton described what he thought a mild form of smallpox as "chicken pox". Later, in 1767, a physician named William Heberden, also from England, was the first physician to clearly demonstrate that chickenpox was different from smallpox. However, it is believed the name chickenpox was commonly used in earlier centuries before doctors identified the disease.
There are many explanations offered for the origin of the name chickenpox:
As "pox" also means curse, in medieval times some believed it was a plague brought on to curse children by the use of black magic.
During the medieval era, oatmeal was discovered to soothe the sores, and oatmeal baths are today still commonly given to relieve itching.
Now, on to the vaccination itself.
A vaccine, like any medicine, is capable of causing serious problems, such as severe allergic reactions. The risk of chickenpox vaccine causing serious harm, or death, is extremely small.
Getting chickenpox vaccine is much safer than getting chickenpox disease. Most people who get chickenpox vaccine do not have any problems with it.
Mild Problems
Moderate Problems
Severe Problems
Other serious problems, including severe brain reactions and low blood count, have been reported after chickenpox vaccination. These happen so rarely experts cannot tell whether they are caused by the vaccine or not. If they are, it is extremely rare.
Note: The first dose of MMRV vaccine has been associated with rash and higher rates of fever than MMR and varicella vaccines given separately. Rash has been reported in about 1 person in 20 and fever in about 1 person in 5. Seizures caused by a fever are also reported more often after MMRV. These usually occur 5-12 days after the first dose.
Some people should not get the Varicella vaccine or should wait.
Ask your provider for more information.
It is important to note that in otherwise healthy children, chickenpox typically requires no medical treatment. Your doctor may prescribe an antihistamine to relieve itching. But for the most part, the disease is allowed to run its course.
For people who have a high risk of complications from chickenpox, doctors sometimes prescribe medications to shorten the duration of the infection and to help reduce the risk of complications.
This is a good segway to talk about "Pox Parties". Never heard of them? A Pox Party is is a party held by parents for the purpose of infecting their children with childhood diseases, most commonly chicken pox, thus acquiring some immunity to the disease. According to the Washington Post, parents who expose their children to the virus in this manner believe that this method is "safer and more effective than using vaccines." Similar ideas have been applied to other diseases such as measles. In the case of chicken pox, and also some other diseases such as mumps and hepatitis A, the course of the disease is typically less severe in children than adults.
Historically, smallpox parties and other forms of controlled inoculation reduced significantly the death rate due to smallpox (see Variolation). With the introduction of a smallpox vaccine, inoculations of wild smallpox virus fell into disuse. In the United States inoculations of wild chickenpox, via pox parties, remained popular up to the time of introduction of the varicella vaccine in 1995. Concerns about the failure rate of that vaccine have led to a resurgence of interest in chicken pox parties for children. The virus can be obtained from persons with either chickenpox or herpes zoster.
Depending on the disease that is attempted to be spread during such an event, holding a pox party and/or wilfully exposing one's children to a disease can be illegal. Potentially relevant acti rei are battery and the intentional spreading of infectious diseases, which can violate infection prevention laws.
In keeping with tradition, I looked for evidence of this vaccination causing any kind of neurological disorder and found none. However, some people may still be concerned (though they needn't be) about the MMRV vaccination since the MMR vaccination was previously thought to be linked to Autism. You can read all about that vaccination in previous posts.
I found an awesome website that lists the package inserts and ingredients for all available vaccinations (e.g. provided by MERK or GlaxoSmithKline). It's called the World Association for Vaccine Education. You can find their page on the Varicella Vaccine here.
More Information:
And since there are those people that are concerned about links of vaccinations to neurological disorders and the like I thought I'd include some of their links as well:
Generation Rescue is an international movement of scientists, physicians and parent-volunteers researching the causes and treatments for autism and mentoring thousands of families in recovering their children from autism.
The Thinktwice Global Vaccine Institute was established in 1996 to provide parents and other concerned people with educational resources enabling them to make more informed vaccine decisions. Thinktwice encourages an uncensored exchange of vaccine information, and supports every family's right to accept or reject vaccines. Thinktwice does not have a page on Vericella.
I asked my pediatrician if she had a lot of parents who were choosing to NOT vaccinate their children. She said she could count on one hand the total number and that she, of course, recommends AGAINST not vaccinating your children.
Previously:
Hepatitis B Vaccination Information
Rotavirus Vaccination Information
Diphtheria Vaccination Information
Tetanus Vaccination Information
Pertussis (Whooping Cough) Vaccination
Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) Vaccination Information
Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccination Information
Polio Vaccination Information
Influenza (Flu) Vaccination Information
Measles Vaccination Information
Mumps Vaccination Information
Rubella Vaccination Information
Next week: Hepatitis A
January 15, 2009
About Vaccination - Varicella (chickenpox)
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