Getting ChicPox after having ONE CP VAX

[MommyErin]

So is this possible?

We are selective/slow VAXers and DS has had ONE CP Vax. I chose not to follow with the recommended booster as our PED told us that he'd likely not get them after one but if he did, they'd be very mild.

So the other day, DS shows me some bumps on the top of his right thigh. There were fewer than a dozen but they looked EXACTLY like chicpox in various stages. A few were just red bumps, a few had the pus heads, and a few were already burst and starting to dry and scab. No fever. Withing 36 hours, they had all burst and started to scab. No new bumps ever developed anywhere on his body. Never had a fever.

So did he get some sort of mutated chicpox b/c of having had the vax? Or did these just look exactly like chicpox but weren't? It was so strange that he never got any on his torso and the bumps took about half the time to go through there cycle.

In short, has anyone else seen anything like this???

--erin

[A&A]

Yes, depending on the efficacy rate of the vax, it's definitely possible to get a disease for which you were previously vaccinated.

[Emmeline II]

Originally Posted by A&A

Yes, depending on the efficacy rate of the vax, it's definitely possible to get a disease for which you were previously vaccinated.

[rahans]

Yes, it is possible. My 4.5 yr old DD got them after Christmas this year. She had the vax at 1 yr. Very mild case - about 50 pox over her torso, legs, arms. Only a couple were itchy. It was definitely pox as she gave them to her 38 yr old uncle (who had never had cp) and previously vaxed 11 yr old cousin. I was hoping my 3 yr old DS would get them (had them sharing spoons, baths etc) but he didn't - he is also vaxed for cp - a vax I totally regret. Hopefully, I'll get him exposed again sometime. Oh, and I am wondering if she got the CP from my FIL who had the shingles vax 4 weeks prior to her break out! I thought the timeline worked....who knows?

[RheaSilva]

Gennie, amazingly, got varicella not once but TWICE despite being vaccinated!

When she broke out in the various lumps and bumps, my husband took a look and said, "That's chicken pox".
"That's impossible", I replied.
"I'm a doctor; I think I can diagnose chicken pox", he said.
I thought for a minute and reminded him that orthopedic surgeons know how things work INSIDE, but OUTSIDE the body is beyond his scope. Okay, so I was stretching it

So, we took her to her pediatrician and, sure enough....chicken pox! And I will never hear the end of it from DH!

[34me]

My ds's hockey teammate got them in Novmber. He's 13 andthat was the kiddos they first started wanting to het the shot. He had a regular case. You would have never known he had the shot.

[mamakay]

No, the vax wouldn't make it to where he got CP just on one thigh. It's highly likely IMO that was something other than chickenpox.

[claddaghmom]

Have you seen this?

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/...n/5471556.html

"Texas recorded a 41 percent increase in cases of chicken pox from 2005 to 2007, despite an eight-year-old requirement that children be vaccinated before they can enter kindergarten.
…
vaccinated students who get chicken pox end up staying home the same number of days as they would have without the vaccine.
…
“…But what we do know — what we are almost 100 percent certain — is that the solution to that is another dose of the vaccine."

[Sileree]

Originally Posted by claddaghmom

"... But what we do know — what we are almost 100 percent certain — is that the solution to that is another dose of the vaccine."

It always is, isn't it?

[MissRubyandKen]

I agree with mamakay. While I guess its possible, seems highly unlikely this was chickenpox with bumps only on one thigh. I'd be watching him closely for awhile. Could be allergic reaction, bed bugs, scabies, and any number of other things I'm sure.

And yes, children get varicella after getting vaccinated for it frequently. Though its said 'it is a milder case'. My two older children had chickenpox after my ds was vaccinated for it. Only in their case the timeline suggested they actually caught chickenpox from the live shot. Idk, can't prove it.

Oh and the chickenpox bumps usually start on the scalp or torso, then spread to the extremities.

[MommyErin]

Thanks, Mommas, for your replies.

I thought b/c of the lack of bumps on the torso it couldn't be chixpox but it's not bedbugs (students at school have had those and I know what those look like) so I don't know ... DS is fine so who knows?

Hearing your stories makes me glad I didn't bother with the booster, though.

--erin

[nicolebeth]

I know a child who had CP after having the shot and the K booster. DD had positive titres (for what's it's worth) after having one shot. She was exposed a few times, however.