Just found out DH has never had chicken pox, now what?

[gbailey]

DD isn't getting the varicella vaccine. DH's mother doesn't remember whether or not he had the chicken pox and neither does he so his doctor checked his blood and it says negative for chicken pox antibodies. The doc says if DD gets the chickenpox DH can't be around her at all. We were hoping to have her exposed at around 3 or 4 (she's 18 months now). Has anyone had this issue and how was it resolved. DH and I personally feel it's pointless to give her the vaccine since she could get it anyway (other reasons too) but don't want him to be really sick either if DD gets it and passes it on to him. Just not sure what we should do in this situation.

[peilover010202]

I think if you choose to expose her, then he needs to be isolated (or she does) after exposure. I don't know there is any other option (except vaxing him). but, that's not to say that he still won't contract it anyway. But, in that situation, he risks being exposed everyday.

[just_lily]

Getting CP as an adult certainly isn't fun, but it isn't a terminal illness or anything. If I were a man, I wouldn't be concerned.

I have never had CP either, and have no titres. We don't vax our daughter.

The risk of getting CP in a future pregnancy is the only thing that made me consider getting the vax at all. Right now I am 98% certain that I am not going to get it, but there is still about 2% of doubt that makes me consider it. If I wasn't planning on having more babies, there is no way I would get it.

I figure if I end up with CP at some point, I will just deal. It won't be the end of the world. I figure I will probably get it at the same time as my kid, so we can all suffer together.

It isn't clear how long immunity lasts from this vaccine. It is entirely possible that your DH (and me) would have to be re-vaccinated as often as every five years for the rest of his life to maintain immunity. That really isn't a road I want to go down, personally.

If this was twenty years ago and there was no vax, would this be a situation to freak out about? Before there was a vax if a parent hadn't had CP they would go camp out at someone else's house when the kids had it, or just took their chances. Not a huge deal. It is only the advent of this vaccine that turns it into a crisis.

On a day to day basis I really don't worry about it. Even though I don't show immunity on my titres I kind of wonder if I don't have some natural immunity. I have certainly been exposed often enough over the last 30 years!

[caro113]

Thank you for posting this! DP also never had CP. He told me never had it and I didn't believe him because he's forgotten a lot of his childhood. So I asked his mom. Unfortunately, she confirmed that he never had it. I'm not excited about having to be alone with a CP baby but I'll have to do my best, whenever that happens.

Would it better to let her get exposed to it by random or actually knowingly expose her? At the proper age of course.

[nia82]

I haven't had CP as a kid and we don't vax DS or any future kids.
I had the CP shot 4 times (immigration). I do not have any titers for it, at all. I was revaxed for not having titers after the initial 2 shots. I was revaxed, still no titers. The shot doesn't really work.
And I think there might be more to immunity than titers as I was exposed multiple times to CP and never got it. And if I finally might catch it with our kids, it's no fun, but I will get over it.

[lauradbg]

Here is an anecdote. If it were written up by a scientist or a doctor it could be considered a case study, but I'm a layperson... so, anecdote.

My unvaxed kids got chicken pox. I had assumed that my husband had already had chicken pox as a child and it turned out that he didn't. He caught it as well. The one who had the most mild case? My husband.

He had the fewest pox and felt like he had virtually no other symptoms. He was fine. We were worried at first, especially with people continually telling us that he would end up in the hospital once they heard that he had chicken pox. They were so worried for him because we've all heard how much more severe a childhood disease is when contracted in adulthood.

It wasn't for my husband in the least. He was fine.

[DCRC]

Has your husband had Shingles? Wife sister has had Shingles but never got chicken pox.

[Noelle C.]

I'd say it depends on the strength of his immune system. Certainly CP is worse for adults than children, but still usually not fatal. If he's a hardy man, then he *might* want to consider going ahead and being exposed. That's up to him. He might luck out and be one of those people who has two pox marks and are otherwise fine. Forget about the vax. Still too new, and the protection isn't for life, the way the regular ol' CP are so it's a constant re-risk every booster.

[Otto]

Originally Posted by just_lily

Getting CP as an adult certainly isn't fun, but it isn't a terminal illness or anything. If I were a man, I wouldn't be concerned.

I contracted chicken pox at age 20--from someone who had had it in childhood and developed a recurrence--and was bedridden for a week. (I was in college at the time and sequestered in the dorm during winter break. At its worst, I couldn't get out of bed to shut off side 4 of Traffic's album "On the Road." While there were people checking on me a couple times a day, I still wound up stuck listening to the 18-minute version of "The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys" over and over again in a febrile state for something like 16 hours.)

I'd rate the experience as a very generous serving of not fun.

[Mirzam]

I have never had chicken pox either. It wasn't from want of exposure either. All my siblings, cousins, friends had it as children, and I have been exposed via my three children who all have had chicken pox, plus additional exposure via friends' kids. I personally wouldn't spend a second on worrying about it. I doubt he has never been exposed to the virus, even if he doesn't show antibodies, so if your DH has made it through this long without catching it, he probably isn't going to get it. If he does, I am sure he will deal with it. I remember my SIL and BIL getting chicken pox in there twenties when they two oldest children had it. They got through it without complications.

[shelbean91]

My dh had never had CP, never vax'd. My 3 kids got it, he still didn't get it.

[lotus.blossom]

I have never had CP either and during my last pregnancy I got my titres checked. Nothing. So I have been contemplating the vax for myself when I am done breastfeeding. But now I am wondering if thats just useless....

Originally Posted by DCRC

Has your husband had Shingles? Wife sister has had Shingles but never got chicken pox.

I thought that only people who have had CP can get shingles?

[Ophelia]

Yes, that is true you cannot get the shingles unless you have already had CP.

My DH also doesn't think he has ever had CP, at least not that he knows of. Our plan of action (if I can ever find CP for DS, he was exposed once early this year but didn't catch it and I haven't found it since) is if I know there will be exposure to get all of us on extra Vitamin A and probably Vitamin C and D too. I think the Vit A really helps with pox and rash type viruses.

[beckyand3littlemonsters]

i have heard it can be worse for adults but wether this is true i or not i wouldn't know a friend of mine caught them when her sons both got them and was fine although very uncomfortable because of the itching. to my knowledge shingles is far worse than cp anyway and anyone who had had cp/cp vaccine are at risk of catching it.
i had them when younger so can't really be of help .

[2xy]

I have a friend who got chicken pox at age 24 and was out of work for three weeks. She said it was the most horrible experience of her life.

And yes, CP can be a terminal illness. It's rare, but children and adults do die from chicken pox.

[MyLilPwny]

My mom had the chicken pox at the age of 30. I wasn't born yet, so she got it elsewhere. She said the chicken pox marks lasted a long time, like over a month and the scars took a long time to fade but they eventually did.

[Lilcrunchie]

I'm in a similar situation. Was exposed several times as a child, preteen, etc. and never contracted chicken pox. Finally had my titer checked in high school and it was negative. I was a sr. in high school and got one of the earliest available chicken pox vaccines at the time . So now I'm in the limbo of not knowing when it will wear off and if it would even be effective. I only got one dose (per the recommendation at the time). THen I had a work physical years later and (I was still provax at the time) and asked about the new recommendations for 2 shots. They rechecked my titers and said they were adequate. Which was at least a plus as we started TTC not long after, and I also worked around immune-compromised patients (worked in early intervention) at the time and would have felt uncomfortable even then getting a 2nd vax.

So now i'm still in limbo. Haven't had my titers rechecked since then but it was a looong time ago so I'm guessing if I had any immunity it has mostly waned.

I would like to eventually expose my kids, but have no idea if I have any antibody protection or not...could be a mild case, but then again, there are people w/ severe complications when contracting it as an adult.

However, I don't want my kids to be in the same situation down the road that I'm in, kwim? THe vax isn't on the table as an option for them, and I wouldn't want them dependent on sub-par immunity from the vax anyway.

I did chat w/ someone here a few years back (and my own family practice doc), and one other option (although I would not want to do this most likely) is to use an antiviral medication if my kids got it first. It would theoretically limit the severity of illness. But it might be an option to look into.

[elmh23]

When we were waiting for dh's titres to come back on the chicken pox, we decided to have him vaccinated against it if they were negative. But, we aren't anti-vax (or pro-vax either.)

[cschick]

Originally Posted by lotus.blossom

I thought that only people who have had CP can get shingles?

Anyone who has had shingles, but "not" CP almost certainly had a mild/unnoticed case of CP sometime during childhood.

When we were kids exposed to chicken pox, we were always kept away from my aunt, who had never "had" chicken pox as a child despite multiple exposure attempts. Her titers were negative too. But since she's hit her 40s, she's had shingles every 24-36 months. Apparently, that's pretty common for someone who had only a mild case of CP during childhood.

[kiwiva]

I have never had chicken pox though I've been exposed several times as an adult when others got it. And I doubt I ever had a subclinical case as my sister also never had chicken pox until she got it from my mom's shingles as an adult. I did get the vax a few years ago though my titres have always shown negative since.

Though I was fearful of getting it myself, I exposed 2 yo DD to chicken pox several months ago. During the incubation period I upped a bunch of vitamins, including A and D, took immune boosting herbs, avoided all sugar and did whatever I could think of to stay healthy. While she had chicken pox we coslept and nursed as usual. I didn't get it.

I also had a prescription for acyclovir standing by in case I did come down with chicken pox. It's an antiviral that when taken within 24 (or maybe 48 hrs) of getting the spots decreases the length and severity of chicken pox.

I have also known several adults who got chicken pox and while it was no fun, none of them had a bad outcome or complication. Though from my reading, those who get cp from members of the household tend to have a harsher illness.