Chicken pox

there has been a break out of chicken pox in San Juan Cosala among children, This is the same virus which causes shingles in seniors, so y thought I would post. It has a 21 incubation, meaning that someone who has NO spots, weepy blisters can transmit to you.. it is a very contagious virus, so might be time to bump up your immune system, how ever you do it... garlic, vitamins.. but esp. ingest lysine, which is an amino acid, obtained via spiralina tablets, nutritional yeast (brewer's) or natural yogurt, so says internet. Lysine is what works for cold sores too..

But as anyone who has had shingles knows, you want to avoid weeks of misery. Even though you may have had chicken pox, the vaccination, even shingles vaccine, this fresh live virus floating around is potent Spread will not limited to SJC = we are one population Lakeside, public health wise. Good news is that with people leaving = fewer hosts... While today's community orchestra performance was wonderful & inspiring, consider yourself exposed by children's choir... just saying.. And if not now, it could easily be some day at Walmart.. Per usual, 1) wash hands a lot & 2) keep from rubbing your eyes, hands away from eyes..

I had the chicken pox in my late 20's. Not fun.

So how long do we need to hunker down and to get the all clear ??
Should we move up our annual trip back to Alaska we do every year ?

For anyone that does not already know, there is a fairly new shingles vaccine that is much more effective than the older Zostavax vaccine. It is called Shingrix and it is now recommended even if you have already had the Zostavax previously. It is taken in 2 separate injections 2-6 months apart.

If you are POSITIVE you have never had chicken pox before you can get the vaccine for that but the CDC recommends the Shingrix vaccine even if you are think you have not had chicken pox.  

CDC wrote:studies show that more than 99% of Americans 40 years and older have had chickenpox, even if they don’t remember having the disease.

Here is a link to the CDC website with all the information.
https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd/shingles/public/shingrix/index.html

There is a Navy at sea quarantined with this

I did email GlaxoSmithKline to see if it is available anywhere in Mexico and we will see what they say because I could not find anything online to tell me if there is. There are shortages here in the US I know and my husband and I had to go to 3 different clinics to get our 2 doses because no one had enough for us both:/

For those of us who are senior citizens and have never had chickenpox what would be the recommended course? Should we get the chickenpox vaccine?...the shingles vaccine?...both?

Here in the US they recommend a blood test to see if you have the antibodies to chickenpox and if you do that is proof that you did have chickenpox at some point in your life and should have the Shingrix vaccine. If you do not have the antibodies you then can have the chickenpox vaccine. It is a live vaccine however a tiny percentage of people that get the vaccine can get chickenpox (usually more mild than if not vaccinated) from it or even get shingles in very rare cases (also usually much more mild symptoms than if you did not get the vaccine):/

Even if you have never had chickenpox you can get the Shingrix vaccine and some drs recommend this just to be sure. It is somewhat hard to find however and I am not even sure that it is available anywhere in Mexico yet but am trying to find out:/

Shringrix is not available here. It is in short supply in the US also so you have to check around or make an appointment at Walgreen's or elsewhere.

I wonder if a Canadian living Lakeside and travelling to Canada could get the first Shingrix jab then bring the second jab back for that jab. Just pondering. Got my first Yesterday, 2nd in 6 weeks. I so do not want Shingles.

Tried that. Pharmacist wouldn't give it to me.