Childhood Illness

Should I have my baby boy immunized against chickenpox? I have heard that sometimes it gives them chickenpox.

The short answer is “Yes you should have him immunized for chickenpox”. Of course it means an extra needle and the very low risk of side-effects that all immunizations have.

Chickenpox (varicella) is one of the most infectious of the infectious diseases with about 90% of household contacts, who have not had chickenpox, catching it if one person in the house develops it. While more than half of cases occur in children under 10-years-of-age, 25% happen in people over 15. Ask anyone who contracted chickenpox when 15 or older and they will tell you that it is a miserable disease with intense itching.

Also 1 in 100 people (adults or children) will develop a secondary pneumonia requiring antibiotics and often hospitalization. Some children develop an involvement of the brain called encephalitis. Overall the complication rate of chickenpox is 5 to 10% and one in 400 children being hospitalized.

What are the risks to the chickenpox immunization? About 10% will develop a fever and half it will be quite high (greater than 38.degrees Celsius or 101.3 degrees Fahrenheit). One in5 children will develop slight swelling, pain or tenderness around the injection site. This clears up without any need for treatment. About a fortnight after the immunization approximately 4% will develop some chickenpox lesions around the injection site and about the same number will develop them somewhere else on the body. However, the number of these lesions is 5 or less. Compare this with more than 300 chickenpox lesions in naturally caught chickenpox and each of those 300 itches!

Both my older brother and sister had escaped chickenpox through primary school. I developed it when I was 9 years-old. Of course they both caught it from me during their summer break. My illness was relatively mild but my brother and sister itched horribly and they were not impressed with their kid brother! My last 2 children also caught it in adolescence, the older one did not sleep for 2 successive nights because of itch and this was despite excellent nursing care from his mother and generous medication from his father.