Hi all,
I am under treatment for GPA and am on pred (12.5mg) rituximab and various other meds. I was told at the start of my treatment that exposure to chicken pox is bad news. Luckily for me all three of my kids have it in differing stages. Do I need to lookout for anything? Have called my GP and awaiting a call but any advice would be good.. feeling generally tired and had a bad tummy but other than that I feel ok
thanks all
Hi Wengle82, I am a bit surprised that your kids have chicken pox in that , after childhood vaccinations for chicken pox started years ago, almost no kids get chicken pox anymore. Were they vaccinated?
In any event, being immune suppressed with your GPA drugs, you are vulnerable to any type of infectious disease. Chicken pox is in the herpes family. For those of us who are old enough to not have had the benefit of a vaccine, all the kids in school would get it. I had it too.
However, once recovered as a kid, the antibody remains in the body; ie. varicella which can come back again in adults and older people as shingles. So, you should ask your doctor for the shingles vaccination to protect yourself from varicella (chicken pox), especially if you yourself had chicken pox as a youngster.
My husband is a French citizen, and during the application process for a US green card, he was given the varicella vaccine, among others, at his immigration physical. Luckily, he passed easily, and was approved. But it seems that publicly health authorities are still concerned about varicella. I was also advised to get the vaccine when I first became ill and showed positive for C-ANCA which I did.
Given that you are immunosuppressed from prednisone and Rituxamab, you are extra vulnerable. So do search out the vaccination for shingles, also called varicella in any event. Good luck.
Chickenpox is not routinely vaccinated against in the UK. Also immunosuppressed people should not get the shingles vaccine, which is live, and could give them chickenpox.
We have a comprehensive advice document about vasculitis and chickenpox in the Vasculitis UK Facebook group. I don't know if you can access this but it is online at
facebook.com/groups/Vasculi...
Even if you have had chickenpox before yourself you can catch it again, especially as an immunosuppressed person. The general advice is that if you have had an exposure you should contact your GP to get an immunity blood test, to see if you are immune, and if not you will need treatment.
I ended up in hospital with chickenpox as an immunosuppressed adult in 1998 and was lucky to survive. 12 years later the virus trapped in my body from that reactivated as shingles, which was very unpleasant, though not life threatening.
Good luck! And if you come out with spots or a rash which may indicate an active chickenpox infection in your body please seek urgent medical help fast.
Sorry I couldn't reply sooner. I've been asleep all day and only woke up a little while ago. Cerebral vasculitis effects combined with a common cold gone very bad.
More info on why children don't routinely get the chickenpox vaccine in the UK. Though, interestingly, child contacts of immunosuppressed people can get it. I didn't know that one! And I don't think it's well known among vasculitis patients.
nhs.uk/conditions/vaccinati...
Thank you for sharing your knowledge about chickenpox , Vivdunstan. There seems to be a difference between UK and US public health policy on childhood chickenpox vaccination. When I saw my rheumatologist for the very first time, before blood work, etc., he insisted I get the vaccine for pneumonia and shingles as well as the annual flu shot. This was before any meds prescribed.
Nothing said about chicken pox. I declined the pneumonia vaccine, but took the other 2. However, I had not started.the prednisone until the next day. I was shocked by the price of the shingles vaccine. Had I not had Medicare, the cost is $250 approx. ! I thought how do people just getting by, or worse off pay for this. I still had to pay $20 as a co-pay .
This past year I did not get the shingles vaccine ; just the flu shot. However, I will read the links you sent. Thanks again.
Best wishes .
And info about the shingles vaccination programme in the UK. It is only given to very limited age groups, and cannot be given to immunosuppressed people. The risk is because the vaccine is live it could cause chickenpox, not shingles as I originally posted above. Which can be life threatening, so not worth taking the risk.
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