Hardly anyone has ever heard of an adult getting the chickenpox.
It always seems to be a virus that you and your peers around you get as a child, or even as a toddler. There is a reason for this.
Caused by the varicella zoster virus, the chickenpox is a disease that, upon a successful recovery, one gets immunization to.
In an odd twist of events, chickenpox defies the normal expectations of dealing with a virus – its symptoms become worse the older you are when you finally get infected.
Because of this, it was common practice for parents to encourage their children to mingle with other children who were having the chickenpox, in hopes of their children catching the virus and thus gaining an early, lifelong immunity to it.
However, since the introduction of the chickenpox vaccine, this practice is considered unnecessary and even dangerous.
Thus, it is now highly discouraged by doctors and healthcare professionals.
Despite the lax attitude regarding chickenpox, the disease is still caused by a dangerous virus that can create serious health issues.
Although rare, severe complications can still occur. Said complications include the likes of pneumonia, encephalitis (brain swelling), toxic shock syndrome, bone and joint infections, bacterial skin infections, and even death.
For the parents of an 11-month-old baby, they had to learn the hard way that one could include stroke on the list.
In a report by the Journal of Pediatrics, an unnamed baby wound up with a stroke after being infected by chickenpox.
Exposed to the virus by his unvaccinated siblings, who had the disease a few months prior, the unnamed baby was taken to the emergency room after his attentive mother noticed weakness in his right arm and leg after he woke up from his afternoon nap.
His difficulties in moving his face were also noted by the doctors to be a symptom of stroke.
Although the boy has survived, Dr. Tina Tan, a chairwoman of the American Academy of Pediatrics and professor of pediatrics at Northwestern University, has warned that the baby is likely to have “some type of neurologic sequelae,” or even another stroke “if his arterial disease continues to worsen”.
Experts believe that this situation could have been entirely avoided, had the baby’s older siblings been given their shots.
This is not an isolated case. With more and more parents opting out of vaccinations due to worries about the link between vaccines and developmental disorders, there have been more chickenpox outbreaks.
The American Academy of Pediatrics is reassuring all parents that vaccines have been proven by many studies to be perfectly sound, and remind all that such vaccines assist in keeping a community healthy.
At worst, the child experiences some slight discomfort in exchange for immunization from the deadly effects of diseases such as polio or measles.
As it is for the safety of one’s own children and their peers, it is highly important to have one’s children vaccinated.
Hopefully, more parents will opt to have their children vaccinated so that everyone can be kept safe!
SEE ALSO:
Someone In Her Child’s Daycare Refused To Get Vaccinated, Now She Has To Bury Her Son
