Second Cases of Chicken Pox

Q. Can you get chicken pox more than once?

A. Not usually. Children typically build up a lifelong immunity to chicken pox after getting an infection and don't get it again.

There are some situations in which a child might get a second case of chicken pox though, including:

• getting his first case of chicken pox when they were very young, especially if they were younger than 6 months old
• having a mild or subclinical infection the first time
• developing a problem with his immune system

Keep in mind that an even more common reason for a child to have a 'second' attack of chicken pox occurs because the first case, or second case, was really something else that was misdiagnosed as chicken pox. Although a full blown case of chicken pox is hard to miss, other viral infections and even insect bites can be misdiagnosed as mild cases of chicken pox, especially by non-medical personal, including parents and daycare workers.

Fortunately, with the rise in use of the chicken pox vaccine, the incidence of first and second cases of chicken pox is much less common these days.

References:
¹ Gershon: Krugman's Infectious Diseases of Children, 11th ed., Copyright 2004 Mosby, Inc