Children who get chicken pox when young may be less likely to get eczema or asthma

Dr. Jonathan Silverberg, from the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn and colleagues examined the medical records of almost 700 children and adolescents, some with atopic dermatitis and some without to see whether they had ever had chicken pox.

Children who had had chickenpox, especially when they had had it when they were under 10, were significantly less likely to get eczema and asthma. Neither being vaccinated against chicken pox, nor getting it when they were over 10 years old, appeared to provide any protection against either condition.

However, the researchers accepted that more research was needed before they could advise scaling back on the vaccination programme.

Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology; online July 12, 2010.

Courtesy of Reuters

July 2010

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