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chickenpox

Messages
16
just need to know the answer.
how does a person get the chicken pox again later in life??
i keep hearing about few people on internet about they got it again twice or three times later in life.
how is that.
is it something about the virus that still live in their homes like the same bed or sheets or whatever???
someone let me know soon please.
i hear different storys about this. thank you.
 

halcyon

Senior Member
Messages
2,482
The virus that causes chickenpox, varicella zoster, is a herpes virus that remains latent in the body after the acute infection, specifically in nerves. For probably multiple reasons, the virus can reactivate later in life and cause shingles.
 

heapsreal

iherb 10% discount code OPA989,
Messages
10,089
Location
australia (brisbane)
just need to know the answer.
how does a person get the chicken pox again later in life??
i keep hearing about few people on internet about they got it again twice or three times later in life.
how is that.
is it something about the virus that still live in their homes like the same bed or sheets or whatever???
someone let me know soon please.
i hear different storys about this. thank you.


Yes i had chicken pox as a kid and again as an adult at 31. Shingles at 44, recently april this year on the side of my head and a viral rash on my shins. This rash seems to flare up and down and coincides with feeling like crap.

there is a form of chronic vzv the virus which causes chickenpox which is called mollaret's meningitis which might be worth looking into.

anyway i think us with crap immune systems can get chickenpox more than once.
 

minkeygirl

But I Look So Good.
Messages
4,678
Location
Left Coast
Is it possible to not have had chicken pox (I didnt) but test positive on labs? (I did)

And am I a candidate for shingles? Not getting the vaccine
 

halcyon

Senior Member
Messages
2,482
Is it possible to not have had chicken pox (I didnt) but test positive on labs? (I did)

And am I a candidate for shingles? Not getting the vaccine
Are you sure you've never had the vaccine? I never had chickenpox and thought I never had the vaccine but after testing positive for antibodies I looked back at medical records and found out I was vaccinated at least twice for it.
 

minkeygirl

But I Look So Good.
Messages
4,678
Location
Left Coast
I dont know about a vaccine for chicken pox. I meant I'm not getting the shingles vaccine.

There's no way for me to find out if I had a chicken pox vaccine. That would have been 50 plus years ago. I guess it's possible. I just have no recollection.
 

alkt

Senior Member
Messages
339
Location
uk
So back to my original question. If I never had chicken pox, but am positive for VZV, how? A vaccine?
some times it is possible to pick up infections without having the full blown symptoms. for example typhoid mary a famous carrier of typhoid who did not show any of the usual symptoms.ps i have also had chicken pox 3 times the last time left me with trigeminal nerve pain for nearly ten years. obviously i will be taking the shingles vaccine at some point.
 

PennyIA

Senior Member
Messages
728
Location
Iowa
So back to my original question. If I never had chicken pox, but am positive for VZV, how? A vaccine?
I was going to answer similarly. Is it possible you had it at a very young age and had so few symptoms that your parents didn't realize you had it?

My younger brother (the brat) got it when I got it... I was 16 and was SERIOUSLY ill for about 10 days had so many blisters my mother called the doctor four times (are you sure it's ok for her to have pox under her toe nails, in her gums, on the inside of her eyelids, etc)... and my brother? if I hadn't had it at the same time, I'm not sure they would have realized he had them. He had 3 blisters. 3. Was sick for two days. 2 days (now you know why I thought he was a brat). I had blisters on top of blisters.

Not asymptomatic, but such a mild case that if I hadn't also been sick his blisters might have been dismissed. Now, I think he ended up with the doctors telling my mom that he should get vaccinated anyway when the vaccine became available as his case was so mild they weren't sure his immune system would have been activated enough. Not sure if that's what others who claim that they've had it more than once could say - if a mild case isn't sufficient to build up immunity - but I know that's what the doctors were saying to my mother.
 

IreneF

Senior Member
Messages
1,552
Location
San Francisco
I never had measles and never had an immunization, but I have "seroconverted" (I have antibodies to measles). My doc said I must have had a subclinical case. So it might be possible to have a disease and not know it.

Personally, I would get a shingles vaccine if my CFS doc okayed it, and if I went outside the house more often. I'm just not exposed to very many people. I would def. get a chickenpox vax if I had never had it. It's a pretty miserable condition, and probably even worse if your immune system is dysfunctional.
 
Messages
10,157
So back to my original question. If I never had chicken pox, but am positive for VZV, how? A vaccine?

The vaccine became available in 1995 for use. You can only be positive for VZV, if you have antibodies from getting chickenpox or it was a false positive. You could have had it and been misdiagnosed. Why are you so sure you haven't had it?
 

minkeygirl

But I Look So Good.
Messages
4,678
Location
Left Coast
@Kina. I had "something" with spots for a few days. The doctors determined it was German measles. I remember that and it wasn't what I know to be chicken pox. Whether it was there is no way to know now. I know I never had any other childhood diseases.

And who knows with us. @heapsreal was told he didnt have to worry about vzv then he had a bad outbreak of shingles and keeps having flares

@IreneF I would never get a vaccine with a live virus.
 

Tammy

Senior Member
Messages
2,181
Location
New Mexico
just need to know the answer.
how does a person get the chicken pox again later in life??
From what I have read as the member halcyon has already mentioned it can reactivate later in life as shingles. I am assuming you are inquiring for your mom as you have been very concerned about her. I am very curious............how did your mom's symptoms present themselves. ie. how did the rash present itself? She might have actually had shingles.
 
Last edited:
Messages
16
no she did not get shingles. she never got chickenpox when she was young. this was the first time she got the chickenpox.
 

SOC

Senior Member
Messages
7,849
no she did not get shingles. she never got chickenpox when she was young. this was the first time she got the chickenpox.
If she never had chicken pox or the vaccine, then it's probable she has a standard case of acute chicken pox just like everybody else gets and in the same way -- exposure to an infected person. It's highly contagious. Unfortunately, it seems to be worse when you get it when you are older.
 

Sea

Senior Member
Messages
1,286
Location
NSW Australia
Personally, I would get a shingles vaccine if my CFS doc okayed it, and if I went outside the house more often. I'm just not exposed to very many people.

You don't "catch" shingles, it's a reactivation of the virus already in your system. Everything I've read says it's not reactivated by being exposed to people with chicken pox, but happens when your immune system is struggling.

I've just had shingles after 2 months of acute bronchitis followed by pneumonia. I do wonder though about chicken pox exposure being a trigger, there's an epidemic in my town at the moment. All young children who have been previously vaccinated for it.
 

heapsreal

iherb 10% discount code OPA989,
Messages
10,089
Location
australia (brisbane)
You don't "catch" shingles, it's a reactivation of the virus already in your system. Everything I've read says it's not reactivated by being exposed to people with chicken pox, but happens when your immune system is struggling.

I've just had shingles after 2 months of acute bronchitis followed by pneumonia. I do wonder though about chicken pox exposure being a trigger, there's an epidemic in my town at the moment. All young children who have been previously vaccinated for it.


Although u can catch chickenpox from shingles though.
I think vzv is probably fairly common trigger for cfsme and possibly/could be an ongoing infection also with sub clinical reactivations etc

its not mentioned much in alot of cfsme research. Some of the ME autopsies they have found shingles types lesions in the nervous system. Who knows??