Chickenpox risks for immunosuppressed

[vivdunstan]

Another day, another case of advising a fellow vasculitis patient who's had a chickenpox exposure. In this case the immunosuppressed father of a young child. I never had chickenpox as a child, and caught it in 1998, aged 25, newly immunosuppressed. I caught it from a stranger - still no idea who. I was lucky to survive, and spent a week in hospital in Dundee, in isolation, on antiviral drips. Chickenpox can kill immunosuppressed adults. Please folks take care with chickenpox if you have any relatives on immunosuppression drugs. Including arthritis patients, but also many others like me.

Comments

[andrewducker]

I takew it the child couldn't be vaccinated?

[vivdunstan]

It’s not routinely given to children is it? At least in the UK. It can be given to a child on the NHS if family members are very high risk, including with a weakened immune system. But this is not routinely done for children of vasculitis patients in my experience.

[andrewducker]

You can buy it in Boots for about £150 (which is what we did for each of our kids).

[vivdunstan]

I think it’s rolling out free on the NHS in 2026 too. But I’d guess the folks didn’t know about it.

[andrewducker]

Lots of people don't, which is a real shame.