Tag: chicken pox

Can Vaccines Cause Herpes Infections?

It’s very easy to understand why some folks believe that vaccine injuries are so common.

Vaccines don't cause eczema and they certainly don't cause herpes.
Vaccines don’t cause eczema and they certainly don’t cause herpes.

It’s because they think that vaccines are poison and everything is a vaccine injury, even an infant’s herpes infection!

Can Vaccines Cause Herpes Infections?

Wait, could someone actually get herpes from a vaccine?

Yes, which vaccine causes this???
Yes, which vaccine causes this???

Do we even have a herpes vaccine?

Chickenpox, shingles, and herpes are all members of the herpesviridae family of viruses, but they are not all herpes.

As most people understand, we do have a herpes zoster vaccine, but that is for shingles – and it has nothing to do with the actual herpes virus. Remember, shingles got the name herpes zoster before it was known that it was actually caused by the chicken pox virus (varicella zoster).

And while there is a very large herpesviridae family of viruses, which includes the herpes simplex virus that causes cold sores (HSV1) and genital ulcers (HSV2) and the chickenpox virus, it also includes viruses that cause mono (EBV) and roseola (HHV6 and 7).

Still, only HSV actually causes herpes.

So no, none of the viruses we get could actually cause herpes.

It is thought that nearly 48% of people have HSV1 though and that you can be contagious, shedding the herpes virus even if you don’t have an active cold sore.

Where is the evidence for vaccines being contaminated with herpes viruses?
Where is the evidence for vaccines being contaminated with herpes viruses?

So what’s more likely, an infant was exposed to someone with HSV1 and got infected or they received a vaccine that was contaminated with HSV1, something that has never been documented?

What are some other “possibilities?”

Could it be eczema vaccinatum?

While eczema vaccinatum is a thing, it is a thing that occurs when someone with eczema gets or is exposed to someone who has recently had the smallpox vaccine.

Eczema vaccinatum has to do with the smallpox vaccine...
Eczema vaccinatum has to do with the smallpox vaccine…

It is why the AAP once considered eczema a contraindication to getting vaccinated.

It is unlikely that the infant pictured above was exposed to someone who recently had the smallpox vaccine though and he doesn’t have eczema vaccinatum anyway…

Colloidal silver or CBD oil on eczema???
Colloidal silver or CBD oil on eczema???

And no matter how confident these folks are in their advice to treat and diagnose this baby, they are wrong.

It's truly mind numbing when these folks try to blame everything on vaccines.
It’s truly mind numbing when these folks try to blame everything on vaccines.

Everything isn’t a vaccine injury.

It is always the vaccines...
It is always the vaccines…

What happens if parents actually start to believe anti-vaccine folks who are claiming that HSV1 infections are caused by vaccines?

How do vaccines cause herpes virus?
How do vaccines cause herpes virus?

In addition to skipping or delaying vaccines, putting their kids at risk to get pertussis, measles, Hib, and other vaccine-preventable diseases, they might not take precautions to actually keep them from getting herpes!

Fortunately, most kids with herpes do well if they are outside the neonatal period - after they are about a month old.
Fortunately, most kids with herpes do well if they are outside the neonatal period – after they are about a month old. Hopefully this mom posts an update to the anti-vax group too.

And we will see more kids ending up in the hospital or dying with herpes infections.

More on Vaccines and Eczema

What’s the Worst That Can Happen If You Lie About Vaccinating Your Child?

We have heard about anti-vaccine parents forging their unvaccinated children’s vaccine records to get them in school.

What’s the harm, right?

What’s the Worst That Can Happen If You Lie About Vaccinating Your Child?

Most of us can think of an awful lot of things that can go wrong in this scenario and we know exactly who’s going to be harmed!

An immunocompromised child got chicken pox after her mom lied about getting her vaccinated.

Yeah, if you lie about getting vaccinated, your kid can get sick.

They can also get other people sick…

We found that out last year when an unvaccinated teen returned from a trip overseas and developed measles.

“Although patient A’s parents had chosen not to vaccinate him, his immunocompromised brother, an organ transplant recipient, had received intravenous immunoglobulin to protect him against measles before traveling overseas. When patient A’s illness was reported, SCCPHD recommended that his brother receive additional intravenous immunoglobulin and be quarantined 7 additional days; the family followed both recommendations. Patient C’s unvaccinated sister, aged 17 years, received parental permission to choose to receive MMR vaccine when her brother was quarantined; she opted to receive the vaccine.”

Notes from the Field: Measles Outbreak in an Era of Stricter Immunization Requirements — California, March 2018

While that isn’t so surprising, it is that instead of cooperating with health department investigators, so that they can find and quarantine contact, several people lied. That led to more people getting sick and the outbreak going on longer than it should have.

It is also amazing that they hadn’t already vaccinated their kids, having a high risk, immunocompromised child in the house who couldn’t receive the MMR vaccine!

More on the Worst of the Anti-Vaccine Movement

Does the Chicken Pox Vaccine Protect You from Shingles?

The chicken pox vaccine protects you from getting chicken pox.

A billboard in Minnesota educates parents about the benefits of the chicken pox vaccine.
A billboard in Minnesota educates parents about the benefits of the chicken pox vaccine.

Shingles is a reactivation of chicken pox, which can occur even after you have gotten the chicken pox vaccine, since it is a live virus vaccine.

Does the Chicken Pox Vaccine Protect You from Shingles?

We have long expected that the risk of shingles after vaccination with the chicken pox vaccine would be lower than a natural infection.

“In the early post-varicella vaccination period, incidence rates of medically attended herpes zoster did not increase for the overall population and decreased moderately for children 9 years and younger, the age group targeted for varicella vaccination.

Tanuseputro et al on Population-based incidence of herpes zoster after introduction of a publicly funded varicella vaccination program

And now we have even more evidence!

A recent study, The Epidemiology of Herpes Zoster in the United States During the Era of Varicella and Herpes Zoster Vaccines: Changing Patterns Among Children, has found that the incidence of shingles “declined in a step-wise pattern since the varicella vaccination program was introduced.”

“We found that HZ incidence declined dramatically among children since 1998 as the varicella vaccination program was being introduced and was maturing…”

Harpez et al on The Epidemiology of Herpes Zoster in the United States During the Era of Varicella and Herpes Zoster Vaccines: Changing Patterns Among Children

Did you need another reason to get your kids vaccinated and protected with the chicken pox vaccine?

More on Protection Against Shingles with the Chicken Pox Vaccine

Making Sense of Anti-Vaccine Arguments

Have you ever tried to understand or make sense out of the things anti-vaccine folks say?

How did it go?

Making Sense of Anti-Vaccine Arguments

Consider what a group of anti-vaccine folks did with the above post about a child with severe complications to a chicken pox infection…

It's always a vaccine injury...
It’s always a vaccine injury…

What are some of the big complications of chicken pox infections? Complications that help make chicken pox deadly?

That’s right, secondary skin and soft tissue bacterial infections (cellulitis and necrotizing fasciitis). In fact, bacterial super-infections of the skin are the most common complication of chicken pox infections.

“Necrotizing fasciitis can lead to sepsis, shock, and organ failure. It can also result in life-long complications from loss of limbs or severe scarring due to surgically removing infected tissue. Even with treatment, up to 1 in 3 people with necrotizing fasciitis die from the infection.”

Necrotizing Fasciitis: All You Need to Know

No, chicken pox is not necrotizing fasciitis, but all of the breaks in the skin from chicken pox lesions give bacteria, including group A Streptococcus (group A strep) and Staphylococcus aureus, plenty of opportunities to enter a child’s body and quickly spread.

No one in the Netherlands dies with chicken pox???
No one in the Netherlands dies with chicken pox???

We often hear that chicken pox isn’t serious in other countries that don’t routinely use the chicken pox vaccine. Don’t believe them.

On average, about two young children die in the Netherlands each year due to chicken pox.

“Based on the results presented in this study we estimate that between 3 to 8% of all Dutch patients with varicella, depending on age, consult a GP due to a complication. Our findings are similar to data from Germany, France and the United States of America, were it is estimated that in approximately 2 to 6% of cases attending a general practice. Furthermore of these varicella patients 1.7% experiences complications severe enough to seek hospital care.”

Pierik et al on Epidemiological characteristics and societal burden of varicella zoster virus in the Netherlands

And folks in the Netherlands have similar rates of complications as we did in the United States in the pre-vaccine era and many are hospitalized.

Do you understand what’s happening in these comments? When folks choose to skip or delay their child’s vaccines, they will work hard to justify their decision.

Escaping cognitive dissonance explains a lot of anti-vaccine arguments.
Escaping cognitive dissonance explains a lot of anti-vaccine arguments.

That’s not surprising.

“the state of having inconsistent thoughts, beliefs, or attitudes, especially as relating to behavioral decisions and attitude change.”

cognitive dissonance definition

If you aren’t going to vaccinate your kids, do you want to think that you are leaving them at risk for such a serious complication, even if it is rare, or will you make up reasons for why the story can’t possibly be true?

Now these folks become skeptics?
Now these folks become skeptics?

Sure, these folks believe every vaccine injury story on Facebook without any proof, but all of a sudden they all become skeptics when faced with a story highlighting the known complications of a vaccine-preventable disease.

That’s the modern anti-vaccine movement.

More on Making Sense of Anti-Vaccine Arguments