RE: varicella, more than just $$$

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>
>> Is there any literature on this? I've been told by more than one
>> I.D.
>> expert that neither the age when Varicella is contracted or the
>> severity of
>> the illness correlates with the immune response. I did some checking
>> after
>> taking our kids to a "Chicken Pox Party" (before the vaccine was
>> available)
>> and our (at the time) 10 month old had one of the mildest cases I'd
>> ever
>> seen. I was reassured that despite her age and her mild symptoms she
>> should still develop normal immunity.
>>

>> Michael Sachs, M.D.
>> General Pediatrician
>> Does anybody know of any other studies showing otherwise?

At 09:06 AM 11/26/97 -0600, Heitsch, Grace wrote:

> [Heitsch, Grace] no studies, just anecdote... my daughter and
>son both got what I wondered might be chi pox after exposure at about 6
>mo while breastfeeding... fever and one pock, and a couple red spots.
>They've both had numerous exposures since in day care, school, etc. and
>NOT gotten sick. Now before my dau turned 12, we drew her titre, 'cause
>I was curious, she's very immune. I suspect we'll find the same with my
>son. I'm impressed whenever I read, study or hear a lecture about
>varicella that we really don't understand the immunology very well....
>of the natural dz, and hence my ongoing trepidation re the vaccine

Even titres can be unreliable. One of my medical assistants has never had clinical varicella (even when it went through her family during childhood). Her serum titres when she started in my office were zero. Despite hundreds of office exposures as well as intense exposure when her own kids got it, she still has not developed clinical symptoms.
Guess this just shows that nothing in life is 100% certain.

Michael Sachs, M.D.
General Pediatrician