23 May

Before there was a vaccine for chickenpox, people were encouraged to 'live with' it, even holding parties to get all their kids infected. Now every person who has had chickenpox (myself included) is at risk of developing shingles later in life, even multiple times. When you 'live with' a virus, it lives inside your body and waits to re-emerge. More than 30% of people who had chickenpox will get shingles. Shingles really should be called 'living with chickenpox'. Just as MS is 'living with mono'. It's not a good idea to live with any nasty virus.