Mail Order Chicken Pox!

[Racket_Man]

Boy am I glad I got CP when I was relatively young (sometime around the age 6 or 7 maybe way before the vaccine was developed). my parents believe that one of my sisters brought it home (as a carrier) from college.

when I was in my 30s our daughter got it (not sure where most likely at school she was 7 or 8ish) but Ex and I were unaffected.

[fireheart17]

Also, when the smallpox vaccine first came out, people mistrusted it cuz they thought they'd be turned into cows.

You'd think that people today would have more sense, but it seems not.

I think that may be because the first vaccine involved cowpox from memory. Hence the name.

[Lace Neil Singer]

Yeah; this bloke noticed that milkmaids who caught cowpox from their cows didn't get smallpox, so he developed the smallpox vaccine from cowpox. But seeing as there weren't many milkmaids walking around with horns and tails, people still ought to have had more sense. XD

[Beckpatton]

From my understanding, people (kids) with chickenpox are contagious for 2 weeks before they come out in spots.. some say they are still contagious while the spots are still blisters, but I'm pretty sure the most contagious time is before you even know you've got it.. so in that case, how would this even work, people are sending their kids tissues, lollipops, socks whatever in the mail, after they've come out in spots= no longer contagious!!

Also, I got it when I was 10, my friend down the street had it, and while I was probably already exposed, mum sent me back down to play, cos "I should probably get it sooner rather than later"

I don't think adults get chicken pox, they get shingles, and it is far more dangerous than having CP as a kid.. will seriously knock you on your butt!!

Not sure if I will bother getting my kids immunised for CP, (when I finally have some kids) it's not really life threatening, not like other diseases, I'm not opposed to immunisation, but if I feel it's unnecessary, why do it! Besides, I had to sufffer why shouldn't mine? LOL! *evilmum*

[SongsOfDragons]

I was four when I caught chicken pox. There's a photo of me dancing about on my Nana's rug naked and covered in Sudocreme. ^^

I heard...well, read in an old Horrible History book...that the idea of getting your kids infected young isn't a new thing, they were doing it long ago with diseases like cholera and smallpox and suchlike. O.o Great idea (!) At least a few centuries ago you had the excuse of vaccines not existing...

Though I've noticed that the pox vaccine seems a lot more prolific in the US than the UK. Is it even available? A mate of mine is planning a short Society story and has asked all the authors whether their self-inserts would have had it or be suspectible to it. All the Yanks have said they had the jab; all the Brits have said they had it at such-and-such an age.

[fireheart17]

I don't think adults get chicken pox, they get shingles, and it is far more dangerous than having CP as a kid.. will seriously knock you on your butt!!

You're close. After you've had chickenpox, the virus stays dormant in your body. Shingles is basically a complication of that. It's basically the bad-ass cousin of chickenpox It IS possible for adults to get chickenpox if they've never had it before.