Childhood Diseases Can Also Sicken Adults
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ABC/Rick Rowell(ARLINGTON, Va.) — Angelina Jolie missed the premiere of her movie Unbroken because she came down with chickenpox. Meanwhile, more than a dozen players from the National Hockey League were diagnosed with the mumps.
Aren’t these childhood illnesses? Yes they are, but that doesn’t mean adults can’t get them.
Dr. Aaron Glatt, a spokesman for the Infectious Diseases Society of America, explains there are several factors at work here, one being that vaccination rates have fallen across the country, meaning the chances of being exposed to chickenpox, mumps, measles and whooping cough have increased.
Right or wrong, the anti-vaccine movement that has gained strength over the years is putting more people at risk.
Another problem is that vaccines aren’t perfect and if someone has been immunized as a kid, the vaccine’s effect can wear off over the course of time. In other words, just become you didn’t come down with an infectious disease as a child doesn’t mean you’ll never get sick if exposed to the disease as an adult.
It’s believed that the NHL players passed along the mumps to one another although it’s difficult to ascertain how Jolie developed chicken pox. However, doctors know that since she’s gotten sick, Jolie is more susceptible to other diseases down the road such as shingles, which causes painful rashes.
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