Our bodies are made from multiple complex, interlinking systems, and because of this, the same cause of illness can have very different effects based on your age, genetic factors and medical history.
A particularly interesting example of this can be found in the unusual connection between chickenpox, a very common childhood infection that causes spots and blisters, and shingles, a rash that is commonly associated with people over the age of 60.
Both chickenpox and shingles have the same root cause, but very different effects, particularly if you experience the former in adulthood first.
To understand why, here is a brief explanation of shingles, chickenpox and why you should consider getting vaccinated for both if you have had neither.
Why Are Shingles And Chickenpox Connected?
Chickenpox is a disease that the vast majority of children will have at an early stage of childhood, caused by the varicella-zoster virus.
In most childhood cases, unless it infects particularly young babies or children who are immunocompromised, its symptoms will typically be no more harmful than a fever with an additional itchy rash of blisters.
However, as many parents will be aware, chickenpox is highly contagious, which typically means that children with the disease will need to be isolated until the blisters have scabbed over and they are no longer infectious.
By contrast, shingles is a reactivation of the chickenpox virus, typically caused by the immune system weakening. This is why it can be more common as someone gets older, and it typically affects one in five people.
Whilst shingles cannot be spread from person to person, someone with shingles can spread chickenpox to someone who has not had it before, which is why people with shingles should also stay away from others.
Is Chickenpox More Harmful To Adults?
Most people will get chickenpox when they are young, and whilst they might contract shingles later in life, they are very unlikely to catch it again as an adult.
Chickenpox is, in most cases, relatively mild, albeit not pleasant for children, but there is a greater risk of complications for adults who have not had chickenpox before and have not been vaccinated against it.
The symptoms are relatively similar between children and adults, with flu-like symptoms, fever, muscle pains, fatigue and a loss of appetite often accompanying the spots and blisters, but what is different between the two is severity.
The headaches tend to be more painful, the fevers are at a higher temperature, there tend to be more spots and blisters, and the latter are more likely to leave scarring compared to cases in childhood.
Another reason for this is that there is a much greater risk of complications in adults than in children. The vast majority (80 per cent) of fatal cases of chickenpox are in adults compared to children.
Complications can include bacterial infections, which could potentially progress to sepsis, encephalitis, pneumonia, severe dehydration and internal bleeding.
If a pregnant woman develops chickenpox, then both mother and baby are at risk of serious complications, and urgent specialist care will often be recommended.
Even if there are no complications, there is a much greater disruption to an adult’s daily life to spend days or weeks in isolation compared to a child. As has been seen with other diseases which have isolation protocols, it can be difficult to work, to socialise or even to buy essentials if you have to stay away from other people.
Can You Protect Yourself From Chickenpox And Shingles?
Up until around 1995, there was no vaccine for chickenpox, which meant that the typical form of protection within communities was forms of variolation, or deliberate exposure of healthy children to chickenpox so they could get lifelong immunity to it and avoid a more serious infection in adulthood.
These led to so-called “pox parties”, but intentional infection is no longer the only way to get protected.
There are separate vaccinations for chickenpox and shingles, which can be provided privately through a specialist pharmacy or clinic, or can sometimes be available on the NHS if you meet certain conditions.
Typically, the chickenpox vaccine is provided to people who have not had the vaccine and are in close contact with people who are at risk of getting seriously ill from the disease, whilst the shingles vaccine is offered to anyone once they reach the age of 65, and some people who are immunocompromised.
Despite being caused by the same virus, the two types of vaccines have different functions, with chickenpox vaccines aiming to reduce the risk of contracting the virus in the first place, whilst shingles vaccines aim to boost the immune system to stop it flaring up.