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    • buckykat [none/use name]@hexbear.netEnglish
      0·
      1 year ago

      My understanding is that before the chickenpox vaccine (introduced in the 70’s) this kind of made sense for chickenpox specifically, because chickenpox tends to hit worse the older you are when you get it and you can only get it once.

      • OptimusSubprime [he/him, they/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
        0·
        1 year ago

        actually If you have had chickenpox, in later life, you get Shingles. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/shingles/symptoms-causes/syc-20353054

        Shingles is caused by the varicella-zoster virus — the same virus that causes chickenpox. After you’ve had chickenpox, the virus stays in your body for the rest of your life. Years later, the virus may reactivate as shingles.

        That’s why if you never got chickenpox and got the varicella vaccine as a child, you’re safe from Shingles. Otherwise, if you’re a senior and you’ve had chickenpox as a kid, you have to get the Shingles vaccine.

        EDIT: correction on how you get Shingles.

          • OptimusSubprime [he/him, they/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
            0·
            1 year ago

            If you have had chickenpox, in later life you have a higher chance to get Shingles.

            You can only get shingles if you have previously had chickenpox.

            I’ll make that edit. I was under the impression you can get the Varicella virus as an adult if you never had chickenpox as a child and that it would be Shingles.

            EDIT: https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/chickenpox

            Any child or adult who has never had chickenpox or been vaccinated against it is at risk for getting the disease.

            The illness is often more severe in adults compared to children.

            However, I see why chickenpox parties became a thing:

            Most people who have had chickenpox will be immune to the disease for the rest of their lives. However, the virus remains inactive in nerve tissue and may reactivate later in life causing shingles. Very rarely, a second case of chickenpox does happen.

      • Carl [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
        0·
        1 year ago

        I think the vaccine was introduced in 81 actually, unfortunately you still had people doing chickenpox parties well into the 2000s and now they’re cargo-culting this idea onto other diseases that are more dangerous because health education in our society has never been particularly good.