Is it possible to get chickenpox again? Chickenpox for the second time is an exceptional case
Almost everyone knows that you only get chickenpox once, and it’s best to get over it in childhood. Then immunity will be formed, and the highly contagious disease will no longer be scary.
But is this really so? Is there still a risk of re-infection with chickenpox?
Is it possible to get chickenpox a second time?
Chickenpox is caused by one of the many herpes viruses - type 3, called Varicella Zoster. Once a virus enters the body, it remains there forever, but in a latent form. He's hiding in nerve nodes and doesn't show anything. We have a separate article about that.
Is it possible to activate it, and under what circumstances? How many times in your life can you get chickenpox? There is no clear opinion on this issue.
Some experts believe that the immunity formed after chickenpox is very stable.
The body is protected by specific antibodies - immunoglobulins. They suppress the activity of the infectious agent, which means they prevent the disease from developing. And all the talk about recurrent chickenpox is simply an incorrect diagnosis.
There are several diseases with similar symptoms, and laboratory diagnostics if chickenpox is suspected, it is prescribed very rarely. It may turn out that a re-identified infection is actually a primary infection.
Another opinion is that you only get chickenpox once in your life. But the virus remaining in the body in adults causes a relapse in the form of herpes zoster.
They have the same causative agent, just a slightly different clinical picture.
And finally, the third point of view– You can still get chickenpox again. This happens extremely rarely. This requires a number of factors.
But the main thing is that under certain conditions a failure may occur. protective system body. And then the loss of previously acquired immunity to the disease is possible.
You will learn Dr. Komarovsky’s point of view about re-infection with chickenpox from the following video:
Although most doctors believe that the risk of contracting chickenpox twice is minimal, such cases are sometimes recorded.
There is a so-called risk group that is most susceptible to infection and objective factors that provoke the disease:
Discover real reasons repeated chickenpox- the task is quite difficult. This may be a combination of different provoking factors.
In most cases, the main prerequisite is a decrease or loss of immunity. In adults, secondary chickenpox is severe and threatens varying degrees complications.
How to understand that the ailment is recurrent chickenpox? A person who has had it once may experience the following symptoms when the disease relapses:
Secondary chickenpox lasts on average 2 – 3 weeks. If herpes zoster (shingles) is considered a relapse of chickenpox, then the symptoms of the disease will be as follows: sensations of itching, burning, pain appear in the area of the rash, then blisters form.
The blisters are arranged in a chain; the rashes can be filled with liquid contents, pus, or blood.
The rash is usually one-sided, the main thing is not to transfer the source of inflammation to other parts of the body.
There is no specific treatment for chickenpox. Symptomatic therapy:
- eliminating high temperature;
- disinfectant rashes;
- relieving pain and itching;
- accelerating the healing of blisters and crusts.
Treatment of chickenpox consists of eliminating the manifestations of the disease:
What else is important for the treatment of secondary chickenpox - the patient should not appear in crowded places, his room needs to be ventilated, providing an influx of fresh air.
You can get chickenpox a second time at home, but for patients at risk it is better to stay in the hospital under the supervision of doctors during this period.
The symptoms of primary chickenpox and methods of its treatment can be found here.
Secondary chickenpox in some cases can cause quite severe consequences, affecting different organs and systems:
Prevent reinfection chickenpox possible through vaccination.
The vaccination should be done if, due to a decrease in immunity or an exacerbation of chronic diseases, a person has been in contact with a patient with chickenpox.
This vaccination is not mandatory; you can get vaccinated for a fee.
Vaccination helps develop lasting immunity to the herpes virus that causes chickenpox. Protection is designed for a period of at least 20 years. Vaccination is not recommended for young children, as it does not guarantee against infection in adulthood. We recommend that you read our separate article about adults.
What other preventive measures will help you avoid getting infected? chickenpox again:
- Avoid staying in the same room with someone with chickenpox or at least use a protective mask;
- in an apartment where there is someone infected with chickenpox, the rooms should be quartzed to protect healthy family members;
- provide each household member with individual dishes and hygiene items;
- Wash the patient’s belongings separately from others;
- maintain personal hygiene - ensure that there are no wounds on the skin, treat them in a timely manner if found, exclude from the wardrobe clothes made of synthetics and fabrics that are too dense and do not allow air to pass through;
- Avoid using creams that can cause allergic reactions;
- stop smoking and drinking alcohol, which weaken the body’s defenses;
- balance your diet, support your immune system by taking vitamin complexes.
Leading healthy image life and observing preventive measures, the development of secondary chickenpox can be prevented.
Adults especially should beware of relapse of the disease in order to avoid serious complications.
What will become a barrier to infection? A strong immune system will save you from infection, which should be strengthened regularly.
Which also causes herpes zoster (or shingles). The onset of the disease, like many other infectious diseases, is acute - patients complain of a sudden deterioration in health, fever, severe headache and general weakness. After some time (from several hours to a day), characteristic rashes appear on the skin, the number of which rapidly increases. The so-called smallpox blisters are accompanied by severe itching.
It is important to remember that although the rash does not penetrate the germinal layer of the epidermis and usually does not leave marks, you cannot scratch the vesicles - otherwise a scar will remain in place of the vesicle.
As you know, children tolerate this disease much easier, whereas it may be necessary for health. Therefore, some parents seek to specifically infect their child by allowing contact with people who already have chickenpox. However, do not forget that there is a risk of re-infection with chickenpox, and this usually occurs in adulthood.
Among infectious disease doctors, the following opinion is sometimes found: if for the first time clinical manifestations were not too pronounced (for example, without high fever and not with a very profuse rash), the patient was “not fully” ill. It is believed that a person who has had chickenpox in this form may get it again later in life. At the same time, there is no scientific evidence or refutation of this assumption yet.
Who can get chickenpox twice?
According to infectious disease doctors, re-infection with chickenpox is possible. People with weakened immune systems who have recently had or are suffering from chronic diseases that significantly reduce their protective abilities, such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) or diabetes mellitus.
Those at risk are also those who experience severe immunodeficiency resulting from various reasons, in particular, HIV-infected people, organ transplant patients, or those whose immunity is weakened under the influence of severe stress.
Chickenpox vaccination is now mandatory preventive vaccinations, therefore for additional information about where, how and when you can do this, it is better to contact a specialist.
Unfortunately, there is no exact answer to the question of whether this or that person can. However, in Lately Doctors are increasingly suggesting that people think about vaccination - by getting the chickenpox vaccine, you can reduce the likelihood of secondary infection to almost zero.
Varicella or chickenpox is an acute infection, which is transmitted by airborne droplets.
In most cases, after suffering from it, a person develops special antibodies that give the body lifelong protection against such a disease.
Despite this, many people wonder whether it is possible to get chickenpox a second time and how this will affect their health. Let's consider this issue in more detail.
Is it possible to get chickenpox a second time: how does infection occur?
Chickenpox is transmitted from a sick person to a healthy person during normal communication, that is, by airborne droplets. At the same time, it is enough to inhale even a microscopic part of the saliva of an infected person to get sick yourself, since in this biological fluid contained a large number of viral cells.
Furthermore To finally catch the virus, it is enough to spend time with a sick person in the same indoors about five minutes.
You can also become infected with chickenpox by accidentally touching skin rash the patient (especially the fluid secreted from acne), which, during the acute course of the disease, covers the entire surface of the human body.
Is it really possible to get chickenpox a second time: etiology of the disease
If a person is healthy and has a strong immune system, he will only get chickenpox once. Cases of repeated transmission of this virus are quite rare, but they do exist.
People who are most likely to become re-infected the immune system weakened. This can happen after a long illness, HIV infection, surgery, pregnancy, or during depression.
As practice shows, most often young people between the ages of sixteen and twenty-five get chickenpox for the second time, but there are cases of the virus being transferred to an older age. At the same time, it is important to know that the older a person is, the more severely he will suffer from chickenpox (he may experience acute symptoms and develop sharp deterioration in good health).
How can you get chickenpox a second time: features of the disease and treatment
Secondary chickenpox usually occurs a little differently than primary chickenpox. In this state, a person can observe the appearance of the following symptoms and sensations:
1. Weakness.
2. Headaches.
3. The appearance of red blisters of varying sizes on the skin, which can itch and hurt. Gradually, pus may accumulate in these formations.
4. The localization of the rash may vary, but most often pimples appear on the stomach, upper back, face and inside arms and legs. Moreover, if the patient constantly scratches the blisters, they can spread throughout the body.
5. Strong increase body temperature.
6. Fever.
7. Lethargy.
8. Apathy.
9. Abdominal pain.
10. Gradually developing burning sensation on the skin.
Treatment of recurrent chickenpox has the following features:
1. First of all, the patient must be isolated from visiting crowded places so that the disease is not transmitted to anyone else. Typically the incubation period lasts two to three weeks. After this point, chickenpox is no longer contagious.
2. When high temperature it can be reduced with antipyretic drugs (Paracetamol).
3. Antihistamine ointments and oral tablets can be used to relieve itching.
4. The patient should drink plenty of fluids and teas so that the body can fight the infection.
5. Pimples can be lubricated with antipruritic ointments (it is not advisable to use brilliant green or iodine).
6. Usually, with chickenpox, a person can cope with it at home, but if complications arise, it is better to play it safe and stay in the hospital under medical supervision. This is especially true for the elderly, pregnant women, children and people with chronic diseases.
7. It is important to know, that you should not scratch the blisters, since this can not only cause infection, but also further provoke the rash to spread throughout the body.
8. If the blisters become suppurated, the patient must be prescribed antibiotics and anti-inflammatory drugs.
Further treatment of chickenpox is carried out based on the observed symptoms. At the same time, it is worth remembering that you should take it yourself (without a doctor’s prescription). medicines may be hazardous to health.
Is it possible to get chickenpox a second time: possible complications
Re-infection with the chickenpox virus is, first of all, dangerous with the risk of developing serious complications.
The following groups of people are most susceptible to them:
People suffering from drug addiction and alcoholism;
People with weakened immune systems;
Pregnant women;
People suffering from asthma, diabetes and other chronic diseases;
Smokers.
Most often, with secondary chickenpox the following complications develop:
1. Inflammation and suppuration of soft tissues and skin. The reason for this is infection getting into the wounds when combing them with dirty hands. Reveal this complication possible by the following criteria:
The appearance of large bright red blisters on the skin;
Appearance under top layer skin abscesses;
Flow of yellow pus from itchy wounds;
Swelling of the affected skin;
Sharp increase body temperature;
Pain on the skin when palpated.
2. The development of severe pneumonia is observed in 15% of patients with chickenpox who experience it for the second time.
The great danger of pneumonia is that it is usually asymptomatic, so it is detected in an already advanced state. It can be diagnosed using chest x-ray.
To prevent the development of severe pneumonia, you should pay attention in time to the occurrence of such symptoms during acute chickenpox:
An increase in body temperature that occurs even after the rash has begun to subside;
The appearance of a dry cough accompanied by chest pain;
Shortness of breath;
Difficulty breathing;
In this condition, the patient must be urgently hospitalized.
3. The development of severe inflammation in the joints (osteomyelitis or arthritis) is a fairly rare complication that can occur in older people who have chickenpox for the second time.
Signs of such a complication are:
Joint pain when walking and palpating;
Swelling of the limbs;
Redness of the joints;
Body pain at night and after physical activity.
4. Severe damage to the structure of the brain or inflammation of its soft tissues. This complication can be identified by the following symptoms:
Fainting or loss of consciousness of the patient;
Frequent headaches and migraines;
Memory impairment;
Convulsions;
Impaired gait or gait;
Impaired coordination of movements.
In this condition, a person’s life will depend on the speed of hospitalization and the start of treatment.
5. Impaired eye function is usually accompanied by the following symptoms:
The appearance of bright spots before the eyes;
Inability to look around without turning your head;
Development of strabismus;
Severe burning and pain in the eyes;
Feeling foreign body In eyes.
6. Defeat of cardio-vascular system(chickenpox can cause myocarditis, tachycardia or arrhythmia).
7. Damage to the kidneys and liver.
Separately, it should be said about the danger of chickenpox for pregnant women whose pregnancy has not yet reached twelve weeks. In this condition, the disease can provoke a miscarriage, intrauterine fetal death, or the appearance of pathologies in the unborn child.
Is it possible to get chickenpox a second time: prevention measures
To protect yourself from re-infection with chickenpox, you should follow these recommendations:
1. Do not be in the same room with an infected person or wear a protective mask.
2. Take vitamins to maintain immunity. Any special medical supplies There is no protection against chickenpox.
3. If there is a person in the family with chickenpox, then it is necessary to quartz the rooms to reduce the risk of infection healthy people.
4. It is necessary to maintain good hygiene in the house. All washing products, as well as dishes, must be individualized if there is a person with chickenpox in the house.
5. It is worth washing a sick person’s clothes separately, especially if there are small children in the family.
6. You need to eat a balanced diet to prevent a decrease in immunity.
7. You should stop smoking and drinking alcoholic drinks, as they have a bad effect on human health.
Pink itchy blistering rashes along the nerves on one side of the neck, back or between the ribs, body aches and even sharp pain- all this may be a sign of shingles. Although herpes zoster sounds more pleasant (this is also how this disease can be called).
Shingles is a cousin of the bad old chicken pox. Moreover, the brother is very modest and secretive. After a person has had chickenpox, the virus can wait for decades to emerge. He lives peacefully in the area of nerve endings, in the hope that one day a person’s immunity will weaken, a series of stresses will come in his life and become more active. chronic diseases. And this is where shingles puts a knife in the back, sneakily making itself felt with unpleasant symptoms.
Is it contagious?
Yes. Anyone who has not yet had chickenpox is at risk. Because you can get chickenpox from a patient with herpes zoster. Not herpes zoster, that's important.
You should refrain from communicating with infants, pregnant women and HIV-infected people for three, or even six weeks - until complete recovery.
How to protect yourself?
To avoid having to deal with either chickenpox or shingles, it is best to get vaccinated. Only a vaccine can protect your body from this unpleasant virus.
If you do not have a vaccination, but you have already had chickenpox, try to avoid it, lead a healthy lifestyle, maintain your immunity: exercise, eat well.
Is this treatable?
Doctors have a joke that all diseases are divided into two types: some go away on their own, while others cannot be treated. So, shingles is just from the first category - it goes away on its own. However, you need to see a doctor! Can be unpleasant consequences in the form of damage to the nervous system.
If you suffer from pain and itching, acyclovir may be prescribed. antihistamines, soothing compresses, antiseptic. Doctors also recommend wearing comfortable clothes that do not irritate the skin. There is no need to smear this “good” with brilliant green.
It’s amazing how many more questions chickenpox left us with after we wrote two detailed articles: about and about. Let's start in order:
Is it possible to get chickenpox a second time?
Yes, this is possible against the background weak immunity. According to statistics, approximately 3% of people get chickenpox again. This is due to the peculiarity of immunity to chickenpox. And we need to dwell on this in more detail.
The fact is that immunity in chickenpox is “unsterile”. This term refers to a type of immunity in which the causative agent of the disease after an illness is not removed from the body, but remains in it. In the case of chickenpox, in a person who has had it, the varicella-zoster virus remains for life in the spinal ganglia, in the nuclei of the cranial nerves. Incredible, but true: we are protected from repeated chickenpox because our body maintains a lifelong defense against the virus that is already inside us. And here there are two possible scenarios for the development of events in an unfavorable scenario. The first is the re-activation of the varicella-zoster virus, “sleeping” inside, against the background of a sharp weakening of a person’s immunity (usually after the age of 40-50 years). In this case, the disease does not manifest itself in the form of chickenpox rash, but in the form of herpes zoster, better known as “shingles.” The second scenario is re-infection with chickenpox from an external source, if the body at that moment does not have enough antibodies to chickenpox.
Most often, re-infection with chickenpox occurs in adults. But chickenpox happens again in children. At the same time, I would like to warn parents: if you see the same symptoms in a child who has previously had chickenpox, you should immediately consult a doctor, since these may be manifestations of another, similar disease.
What are the symptoms of recurrent chickenpox?
The first symptoms of repeated smallpox infection are as follows: headache, sore throat, general deterioration of a person’s condition, increased temperature. In most cases, the person does not even realize what is happening to them until a rash begins to appear on the skin a few days later. The disease itself lasts about three weeks.
The worst thing about this situation is that when repeated chickenpox Complications are possible, and smallpox itself is quite difficult to tolerate over the age of 10-12 years. But it is impossible to know whether you will get sick again or not.
What are the complications after chickenpox?
Complications of chickenpox sometimes include: gingivitis, stomatitis, purulent mumps, conjunctivitis, keratitis, otitis, sepsis, pneumonia, glomerulonephritis, encephalitis, myelitis, nephritis, myocarditis, keratitis, Reye's syndrome, arthritis, laryngitis.
But the most dangerous complication is the hemorrhagic form of chickenpox, in which vesicles (pimples) are filled with hemorrhagic (blood) contents, multiple hemorrhages appear in the skin or mucous membranes, nosebleeds or hemoptysis occur. And other complications including cerebral edema.
If you have any symptoms of an atypical course of chickenpox, call a doctor immediately!
Chickenpox vaccination – to do or not?
This vaccination is not required. Many pediatricians believe that it is better for a child under 10-12 years of age to have chickenpox and develop their own immunity to it. But adolescents and adults, and especially women planning a pregnancy (but not yet pregnant), should think about getting vaccinated against the chickenpox virus, given the severity of this disease in adults and the danger to the fetus. Vaccination against chickenpox is carried out with Varilrix and Okavax vaccines.
There is an opinion that it is better to get vaccinated against chickenpox than to get sick with the virus, which will then remain in the body forever. We must be aware that vaccination is also the introduction of a live, weakened virus into the body. In fact, this is the same infection with a virus, but only weak. And just like with natural infection, after incubation period, that is, one to three weeks after vaccination, it is quite common to observe the appearance of a rash and an increase in temperature. This is how the body actively produces antibodies to the chickenpox virus. After which the virus remains forever in the body of the vaccinated person - just like in the person who has recovered from the disease.
Contraindications to the chickenpox vaccine are pregnancy and breastfeeding, as well as weakened immunity. Therefore, if a woman did not have chickenpox as a child, vaccination well before conception would be a wise decision.
Is it possible to have chickenpox without symptoms?
Asymptomatic chickenpox is indeed possible, although it is rare. More often it happens that one symptom is missing, while others are so blurred that they go unnoticed by parents. For example, it is possible to have chickenpox without fever - a child may have only a slight or short-term increase in body temperature that adults will not notice (especially if this happened at night while everyone was sleeping). And then only chickenpox rash will be detected. There may be chickenpox without a rash - that is, it seems to adults that there were no pimples at all, but in fact several chickenpox blisters were “hidden” in the scalp, or on the mucous membrane of the mouth, and you did not see them. And finally, chickenpox without itching is possible - this symptom generally directly depends on individual characteristics sick, so it is not at all necessary that chickenpox acne will itch. In the rarest cases, it is possible that the parents did not notice the child’s temperature, did not find pimples, or found a couple, but did not understand that it was chickenpox rash, the child did not itch, but specific analysis blood showed immunity to the virus.
So if, for example, in kindergarten If you had chickenpox, everyone got sick with obvious symptoms, but your child did not, then three weeks after the outbreak of the disease it is worth checking his blood for antibodies to the chickenpox virus, taking a test for antibodies to the varicella zoster virus. Perhaps the baby was ill, but asymptomatic. The test will show whether the child really had chickenpox, whether it was recently, or even earlier (but asymptomatic).
There is an opinion that if a child has had chickenpox with virtually no symptoms, he will definitely get it again. It's a delusion. Chickenpox is caused by a virus that enters the body, and once it has entered, the virus remains in the body for life. Therefore, it does not matter at all how intense the external symptoms chickenpox. If the virus has entered the body, you already have immunity from it. Actually, the chickenpox vaccine is based on the same principle: a weakened varicella-zoster virus is introduced into the body, after which the immune system produces antibodies to it (often with exactly the same, but greatly alleviated symptoms).