There is always that one family member who tells us to get chickenpox while we are still young. Once you've had it once, you can never catch it again. It's effects are much worse on adults than it is for little children - it can even be deadly. The older you get, the higher the risk. Most of the diseases affects small children worse than the healthy adults. What makes chickenpox this special?
Here's the most accurate yet the least satisfying answer: when adults get sick, they experience complications more than children. That simply means that if an adult who have never been contracted chickenpox starts breaking out in the little itchy blisters. They are more likely to suffer side-effects such as hepatitis, pneumonia, and encephalitis. The risks are even higher in men. Obviously, these side-effects are dangerous in their own different way, but why is it that adults are more likely to be contracted than kids?
The fact is that it still has no definite answer. Some experts speculate that the answer can be found between the difference in adult and child's immune system. Toddlers' immune systems are dominated by phagocytes - big cells that "eat" any foreign material - while immune system of adults employ more antibodies that attack microbial invaders. It might be that the hungry, hungry hippo style is more effective against certain viruses
According to clinical professor Dr. John Swartzburg, perhaps viruses and their host have a pseudo - symbiotic relationship that can be active and upset if a person gets the disease at the wrong time. Example is that Polio is not really the child-murderer we think it is, as long as you get it young enough. The virus is no good if its host dies anyways. But when clean and drinkable water rose, it caused rates of polio in infants to drop dramatically, but when the same kids contracted the disease, its effects were much worse. However Swartzburg pointed out that his theory is only a speculation as well.
Prevention is better than cure
It is often believed that that everyone should catch it when they're still young. Here's the good news: Nobody ever has to get chickenpox. We have already developed an effective chickenpox vaccine that would last for about 30 years. Getting this may also lower risk of complications. "Low risk" is better than exposed in "greater risk". However, if you ever got it, the only thing left to do is to let it pass as quickly as possible and drink lots of water. Antiviral medication may also help and weaken the infection, and some other medicine who can help with the symptoms.
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