Is Chickenpox Contagious?

Why do some people think that chickenpox isn’t contagious?

The usual suspects…

Is Chickenpox Contagious?

Of course, chickenpox is extremely contagious!

“In the Home for Hebrew Infants it has been our experience that in the course of an epidemic about three quarters of the younger children develop varicella, and about one half of those above 2 years of age. It spreads rapidly through the institution, progressing from ward to ward in an uncontrollable manner, frequently necessitating quarantine for a period of many months. Among children in private homes it possesses a serious pedagogic aspect, often disrupting the school sessions for long periods because of its widespread prevalence and long incubation period, which causes the infection to drag along throughout the entire winter term.”

A Protective Therapy for Varicella, and a Consideration of Its Pathogenesis

The study this guy who thinks contagion is a myth, that Steve Kirsch chose to retweet, even says that chickenpox is extremely contagious…

So what is the study about?

“Kling’s method consisted merely of applying the contents of the
vesicles to the abraded surface of the skin, after the manner in which a von Pirquet tuberculin reaction is carried out.”

A Protective Therapy for Varicella, and a Consideration of Its Pathogenesis

It is about the first attempts to make a chickenpox vaccine!

“In all, thirty-eight children, about 3 or 4 years of age, were vaccinated intravenously after this method. None of the children developed any local or general signs, or any eruption suggestive of varicella. They were all, in the course of the epidemic, unavoidably in contact with one or more cases of chickenpox, but in spite of this proximity only one developed the disease, this one thirty-six days after the date of inoculation.”

A Protective Therapy for Varicella, and a Consideration of Its Pathogenesis

A vaccine they made simply by placing the contents of a chickenpox vesicle onto the surface of another child’s or injecting it intravenously.

How to Turn an Old Study Into Anti-Vaccine Propaganda

So can we conclude from this study that chickenpox isn’t contagious?

The study, after all, was to expose kids to “lymph from the vesicles” to their skin, nostrils, tonsils and mouth, etc., and see if they could become immune to chickenpox.

A study in which the kids neither got chickenpox after being exposed to the material from the vesicles nor later developed chickenpox.

How Contagious is Chickenpox?

So what can we conclude from this study?

“It is possible to bring about immunity to varicella by means of an intravenous injection of the contents of the vesicles. In thirty-eight instances in which this was carried out it failed to protect in only one case. Vaccinations of this kind induce neither local nor systemic reaction. The acquisition of immunity likewise indicates that the specific virus is contained in the vesicles.”

A Protective Therapy for Varicella, and a Consideration of Its Pathogenesis

Since they weren’t able to check antibody levels of the kids and we don’t know if the material in the vesicles was actually infectious, we can’t tell much.

The author also leaves out whether or not the children had previously had chickenpox!

“It possesses, however, considerable medical interest, as one of the group of diseases of unknown origin, and furthermore, because of its remarkable communicability. In the latter particular it is rivaled only by measles.”

A Protective Therapy for Varicella, and a Consideration of Its Pathogenesis

Basically, the only thing to conclude from the study, through the description of just how many people ended up getting sick, is that chickenpox is very contagious! Almost as contagious as measles.

Let’s thank Steve Kirsch for the reminder…

Also, in some of these early experiments with live chickenpox vaccines, kids did end up getting chickenpox. The material from the vesicles was contagious and was transferred to other children by inoculating it on their arms.

More on Chickenpox

• Germ Theory Denialism is a Thing
• Can You Still Get Shingles After Having the Chicken Pox Vaccine?
• Is the Chicken Pox Vaccine Creating a Shingles Epidemic?
• Why Was My Titer Negative After My Chicken Pox Vaccine?
• Who Dies from Chicken Pox?
• A Protective Therapy for Varicella, and a Consideration of Its Pathogenesis
• The Prophylaxis of Varicella With Vesicle Fluid
• American Journal of Public Health. Volume 5, Issues 5. May 1915
• History of the Chickenpox Vaccine
• The Chicken Pox Story
• The Revenge of Chicken Pox
• Kentucky Governor Misguides on Chickenpox
• Vaccinating against Chickenpox

Last Updated on August 8, 2024