Chicken Pox Party

In the USA, people typically get inoculated for measles mumps and rubella in one injection; MMR twice compulsorily, so mumps is not common. On the other side, we Japanese doctors often see patients with mumps because the Japanese government does not provide mumps vaccine as a recommended one. How can we treat mumps or chicken pox without vaccine? The other day, my American friend and I talked about “the chicken pox party”.

People do not inoculated for chicken pox, so everybody easily gets chicken pox in the USA as much as in Japan. If a child has chicken pox, mothers will typically get together for coffee or lunch at someone’s house and their children play together. Of course, parents do not let them know that is “a chicken pox party”. The kids who did not have chicken pox yet will most likely come down with it soon after.

Parents believe that it is better to get chicken pox at a young age, and older children or adults suffer more severely. This is the truth medically. Also, parents must have a choice whether or not to expose their children to chicken pox. Therefore, children must stay home apart from their schools if they have chicken pox.

“Chicken pox party” may be a chance to get it easily and make it less severely for young children. As a doctor, I recommend parents to give their children a shot of chicken pox because that is very safe and effective at a young age.