Intentionally exposing children to chickenpox is a cruel and stupid thing to do.

Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin made headlines on Tuesday after revealing in a radio interview that he had deliberately exposed his nine unvaccinated children to chickenpox, resulting in the speedy conviction of his family. 39, health experts.

In case anyone would need a reminder about why you should not deprive children of life-saving and harmless vaccines, or deliberately expose them to serious infections that may threaten the prognosis vital, here is a quick overview.

Chickenpox is not a problem

Although most children who develop the highly contagious, itchy viral disease recover after about a week of misery, chicken pox can lead to serious complications and even death for some. Complications include uncomfortable skin infections, pneumonia, inflammation of the brain, haemorrhage, blood infections and dehydration.

If infection occurs early in pregnancy, it is unlikely to cause birth defects, including abnormally formed limbs, brain, eyes and skull, as well as intellectual disabilities. If it strikes just before birth, a newborn baby has a 30% chance of getting a serious form of the disease, which can be fatal.

In addition to newborns, adolescents, adults, pregnant women, and weakened immune systems, such as cancer patients on chemotherapy, transplant patients and people living with HIV / AIDS, there is an increased risk of severe complications of varicella.

But even healthy children can develop complications. There is no way to determine in advance the severity of the infection.

And the fight is not over after chicken pox. Then there are shingles

The same virus that causes chicken pox causes shingles or shingles. After the disappearance of chickenpox, the virus, the varicella-zoster virus (VZV), goes dormant. It hides in the dorsal root ganglia, which are nerves that transmit signals to the spinal cord. VZV may react at any time later in life to cause shingles, which usually manifest as an extremely painful, sometimes irritating rash on the trunk.

Shingles has nothing to complain about, as Eric Bangeman, the editor-in-chief of Ars, proves. He struggled against the resurgence of the fall of 2015 and described it as "several days of acute misery sandwiched by two weeks of crappy feeling".

Shingles can also cause complications. Most often (about 13% or more cases of shingles) is post-herpetic neuralgia (NSP), persistent pain lasting for weeks, months, or even years in the eruption area after the disappearance of that -this. It is also possible that shingles may cause bacterial superinfections in rashes and eye problems that can lead to vision loss, inflammation of the brain or liver, and nerve palsy.

Of course, almost all of this can be avoided because …

There are vaccines for that

The chickenpox vaccine – or varicella vaccine – made its debut in the United States in 1995. It is safe and extremely effective. Two doses of this substance can prevent up to 98% all forms of chicken pox. In the rare cases where a person vaccinated still catches chickenpox, the disease is very mild. The vaccine is 100% effective in preventing serious forms of the disease.

In the years leading up to vaccine availability, there was an average of 4 million cases of chickenpox each year in the United States. This has led to an average of 10,500 to 13,000 hospitalizations and 100 to 150 deaths per year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. With the availability of the vaccine, cases of chickenpox in 31 controlled states fell by 79% between 2000 and 2010. The number of deaths due to the disease decreased by 87% between the four years preceding and following the arrival of the disease. vaccine.

The vaccine contains a live but weakened VZV virus that causes latent infection. This can reactivate later in life to cause shingles. However, in a recent study, children vaccinated against chicken pox were 79% less likely to get shingles than those who had chickenpox.

In addition, there are now two vaccines to prevent shingles in the elderly. The currently preferred vaccine is the Shingrix recombinant herpes zoster vaccine, which is more than 90% effective in preventing shingles after two doses.

This should make the "parts of chickenpox" obsolete, if not simply dangerous

In the past, some parents may have thought that voluntary exposure of chickenpox to their children was a good idea, to ensure they get the disease before the age when it is more likely to cause complications . However, as noted above, chickenpox can be serious even in healthy children and it is impossible to predict in advance how serious each case will be. Moreover, with the arrival of safe and effective vaccines, there is no reason to subject children to an avoidable infectious disease that, even in mild cases, causes hundreds of painful and painful blisters accompanied by fever, discomfort and headaches.

But it's not just your child

Vaccination protects vulnerable people, including those who can not be immunized for medical reasons or those who are immunocompromised. Even if children in the evenings have mild cases and recover completely – as was the case with Governor Bevin's children – the parties can keep the virus running.

Mbadimiliano Fedriga, an Italian politician, was a victim of the disease last week after objecting to legislation imposing vaccination of schoolchildren.

Roberto Burioni, a renowned Italian microbiologist, replied on Facebook, pointing out that the situation was deplorable for Fedriga, but that it could have been even more tragic if, for example, the virus had spread to a fetus or to a child being transplanted.

"The only way to avoid these tragedies (because they are tragedies) is to vaccinate us all to prevent the circulation of this dangerous virus, which could have touched a much more vulnerable person," he wrote.