If you are 60 years old or older you need to get a Shingles vaccine.

I read an article on Yahoo just this morning that said you should get it. Of course I can't find the article now! It was something simple, like "6 things you didn't know about measles". It touched on the fact that many of us don't even know what measles are because we've never had to deal with it, thanks to vaccinations. It also stressed how highly contagious it is. If I can find the article again I will post a link.

Are you sure you weren't vaccinated and/or had the measles? Your doctor can do a titer test and see if you are immune. I would probably do that (unless you are absolutely positive you have not had vaccine or disease) and see what your doctor advises.

If you are certain you have not had measles or the vaccine, it might be prudent to be vaccinated.

"Anyone born during or after 1957 who has not had measles or been vaccinated is at risk and should get at least one dose of MMR vaccine. Two doses are recommended for adults who are at higher risk, such as:
College students, trade school students, or other students beyond high school
Those who work in a hospital or other medical facility
International travelers or cruise ship passengers."

There is a blood test that can confirm if you already have immunity or not if you wish to check before being vaccinated.

It's a personal choice of course. You could be exposed and acquire measles, or not, and if you did come down with measles and are otherwise healthy it could prove to be an inconvenience rather than a crisis. But, in the sense of community involvement, vaccinations are one thing we can do to help the people we live near and around, are in contact with. If we can't get measles, we can't spread it to someone more susceptible to complications.

DH and I have both had measles. We did go for the pertussis vaccine with an outbreak near here two years ago. My conscience didn't want any part of the possibility of infecting anyone's baby or child however innocently that might happen.

If in doubt about the vaccine, ask your doctor or his/her nurse.

My lay-person opinion is that it is not a bad idea to get the titer done since the herd immunity is not as great as it once was. I had all of my vaccinations as a child and I was tested with each pregnancy. It took several shots to get my immunity back again.

I have heard that if you are unsure, just get the vaccine. Now I am concerned about my 84 year old mom. I will have to ask her if she had them. Hope she remembers.

When I had my first born I mentioned to the pediatrician that I'd never had shots as a child. He insisted that I should take them along with my son as there was a chance I could get sick from his shots. (I hope I'm remembering that right.) So I did go ahead and got them all at the same time.

Thanks for all the info.
I think it's worth following up on.

Debrak, we were in that same position with my mom and the shingles vaccine - she'll be 88 this Spring. She was adamant she never had chicken pox, but the memory has some lapses these days and when her sisters were alive I could be surprised at how differently the three of them remembered events anyway.

We had no way to verify within family if she'd ever had chicken pox. I did with my siblings and she didn't catch it from us which made me suspect she had some kind of immunity in place. Her doctor gave her the shot. It went beautifully, she had no reaction at all, not even an achy shoulder.

My aunt had the measles as a child but my mother did not catch it from her at the time. She said she clearly remembers how miserable my aunt was while she was sick.

My mother, who is 73, had the shingles vaccine. I'm not sure when, but, as a retired nurse, she is meticulous about her health, so I know she had it when it was recommended for her. However, she still got shingles anyway...she just had it over the Christmas holidays. It was not a horrible case but it was pretty uncomfortable for her arm/hand that was affected.

This post was edited by fourkids4us on Wed, Feb 4, 15 at 22:28

I wonder how many people remember the good old day, when some parents would bring all their kids over to the measles-infected neighbor kid, for the convenience of having all their kids go through it at the same time.

It may sound selfish at first, but the assumption was that every kid would get it at some point, so no point in putting it off (assuming they were otherwise healthy).

Actually, those good old days weren't that long ago, at least as far as chicken pox goes. My kids were all born before the chicken pox vaccine, and I remember hearing about parents getting the kids together to get it over with. It's great that we can achieve the same thing with a shot and without the accompanying misery of actually having the disease.

Before the chicken pox vaccination my youngest who is now 25 had the dubious honour of bringing chicken pox, when he was 3, into his older brothers kindergarten class which then spread into the rest of the primary classes. At the time we didn't realize he had the chicken pox. Parents were tongue-in-cheek thanking me but glad that it was over for their kids. These days I would be vilified.

I had shingles in my 20's. A very minor case. Chances are I will never get them again.

From what I've heard about measles it is deadly. Why would parents (years ago) want their kids to get it?

Way back when, I believe parents thought that having measles was an inevitable part of life, and better for your child to have it when it was convenient for the parents.

I had shingles in my late 20's, some 30 years ago. From what I have read, that doesn't give you immunity from getting it again. I got the shingles shot.

The idea is that diseases like measles and chickenpox are less deadly to children (over five years of age) than adults (over 20 years of age). So if you contract measles between 5-20 (through a pox party) you're less likely to die or become deaf or mentally challenged from encephalitis than if you get it later.

Unfortunately measles is super contagious, so the measles wouldn't be confined to just those kids at the party. And it is very deadly to babies in the womb. In sum, it's the type of thing you'd do if there wasn't a safe, effective, vaccine.

Death rate for measles in developed countries is 1/1000 cases - which doesn't sound that bad unless you realize how contagious it is, therefore how many people get it. Mortality rate is as much as 10/1000 in developing countries. There used to be a saying: "Don't count your children until measles has passed."

Death rate per chicken pox is much less at 1/60 000 cases. Measles caused 96,000 deaths worldwide in 2013, while chicken pox caused 7,000 (flu caused "a few hundred thousand", mostly elderly).

-- chicken pox, measles, and rubella survivor (despite being vaccinated for the last two).

This post was edited by robotropolis on Thu, Feb 5, 15 at 9:20

From what I have read, and feel free to dispute or argue this, the rate of shingles is on the rise because kids are getting chickenpox vaccinations. It used to be that for those of us who had chickenpox, we would unknowingly get little real-life boosters from being in the presence of children who currently had chickenpox. That would happen just in the walking about of our daily lives. With these little boosters for our immune system that would help to stave off the shingles virus.

With the lower rates, or I guess the non-existence of chickenpox, we're not getting that booster anymore so the shingles vaccination is now becoming necessary.

Older people are the ones who usually get shingles, those who had chickenpox but are too old to have been part of the vaccination. (like me and my kids) I wonder which is a stronger protection, actually having had the chickenpox or having vaccinations. Although my kids had the chickenpox should they also have the vaccination so as to not have shingles later?

One thing I have noticed about the shingles is younger people getting them. More so than I ever used to hear. Our doctor will give a prescript at age 50 (maybe earlier) but some insurance companies won't cover till age 60. My MIL had internal shingles, spent several days in the hospital and lost 13 pounds.

My doctor did the titer for MMR before I went to Turkey, as those diseases are not considered eradicated there. I still had immunity for mumps and rubella, but the measles immunity had worn off and I got the booster. I was born in 1962. My friend who went with me lives in CA, and her doctor did the same thing and she no longer had immunity to measles and also got the booster. She was born in 1963. We both also got the shingles vaccine (had to pay for it), Hepatitis A and typhoid. We don't have the risk factors for Hep B.

BTW, my 83 yo dad got the shingles vaccine a few years ago, and contracted shingles late last year. However, his case was extremely mild with no treatment/complications. I feel like even though the vaccine did not prevent the disease, it certainly lessened its severity.

I had measles, mumps, and chickenpox as a child - in those pre-vaccine days. And right now I'm just getting over a quite mild case of shingles. I have a compromised immune system plus am on one of the biologics for RA so the shingles shot was definitely contraindicated for me.

I'm of the school that anyone who can safely get the available vaccines should do so - for the sake of yourself and your children and also for those of us who have to rely on the responsibility of others for protection.

Keep in mind that there's also "German Measles" aka Rubella, which is different, and milder, than the measles we are discussing. So, if you remember having "measles" as a kid, you might have had Rubella, as I did.

You only get shingles if you gave already had chicken pox. The virus lays dormant in your body for years. If someone who hasn't had chicken pox comes in contact with someone with shingles they could be infected with the same virus, but would develop chicken pox, not shingles.

Here is a link that might be useful: NIH chicken pox and shingles info

Even if you were vaccinated as a child it doesn't hurt to have the titer test run for measles. When I was pregnant with my first, they tested and I lacked measles immunity. Got the shot when I was discharged after giving birth. They said that some of the vaccine batches in the mid 70s were less effective.

I never let my children participate in 'chickenpox parties' as our pediatrician told us that there was a vaccine to be introduced within the next year or so. He said that if somehow my children could manage not to get chickenpox, they could receive the vaccine when it came out, and then never have to worry about chickenpox or developing shingles later.

Unfortunately, my kids did catch chickenpox during an outbreak at school that year. Fast forward seven years and my 12 year old son had to be hospitalized for 2 weeks because of excruciating ear pain, vertigo and non-stop vomiting. Because he was so young, strong and healthy, he was mistakenly diagnosed with and treated for necrotizing fasciitis, which did nothing to help him, because he actually had shingles in his inner ear.

After a specialist finally diagnosed him correctly, it was too late for any anti-viral treatment, so the shingles just had to run its course. Luckily, he did not go deaf from the damage to his eardrum, but he has permanent nerve damage to that ear. I'm so thankful my grandchildren have the advantage of being vaccinated for chickenpox and will never have to worry about shingles.

I had an MMR booster in the early 90's, because the vaccine in the mid 70's was apparently not as effective, as mentioned by Amy above.

It's probably a good idea to have the titer test, just for peace of mind. I can't believe how quickly the current outbreak has spread. If I had a newborn, I would be extremely concerned about going out in public.

I have never heard of the titer test. At my next doctors appt. I'm going to ask about it. Perhaps I do need the shingles vaccine. I'll ask my moms doctor about the titer titer test too.

If you don't have a regular doctor and want to get a titer test, there are places you can go to get tested. One place in our area is "Any Lab Test Now". I have no affiliation with them, just thought I would throw it out there for anyone interested.

Annie -
You can talk to your doctor, get a titer (blood draw, $$ and wait for answers) or you can go to the closest clinic and pay the relatively small cost for the MMR vaccine.

If you tell them what you told us, they'll tell you to roll up your arm.

There is no danger to getting one if you've had measles and didn't know it (I had it, was not "sick", it just showed up as a good antibody titer). Nevertheless, I'm going to get the MMR whan my SO's children start having kids ... just because.

@BLFenton ... From what I have read, and feel free to dispute or argue this, the rate of shingles is on the rise because kids are getting chickenpox vaccinations.

NO, it isn't. That was an early thought, but the rate of shingles is rising in countries that do not routinely give the chickenpox vaccine as well.

Here's the current hypothesis:
1 - More people are living into the ages where shingles is commonest.

2 - Because there are now drugs to ease the misery, more people are going to the doctor about it.

3 - It's now a "reportable disease", so the cases aren't going unknown.

Thanks lazygardens for the information. Upthread someone mentioned about shingles being on the rise for young people as well. Have you seen any information about that and if it's happening, why that would be the case.

My kids had chickenpox and I do wonder how long that "self-immunization" protection lasts. I guess I'll ask and see at what point a shingles vaccination is prudent.

I have been considering being re-vaccinated myself (I know i was vaccinated in childhood and possibly as a teen, but I'm 40 and don't have medical records going back that far). This article on yahoo was pretty informative.

Here is a link that might be useful: measles adult vaccination

We are going to Disneyland in a couple weeks, and after doing some research, my DH (49) and I (42) are both getting another MMR booster. We don't have time to wait for a titer test, and it's not harmful to have another vaccine. We both work with kids, so it's a good idea even if we weren't going on the trip.

This will hopefully change some minds about getting children vaccinated.

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/autism-speaks-urges-parents-vaccinate-children/story?id=28751485&cid=fb_gma

>There is no danger to getting one if you've had measles and didn't know it

Agree. I had measles, mumps, and rubella as a chiild (before the vaccine) and I've had the vaccine unnecessarily twice: once when I went back to graduate school where the rule was you had it or you didn't come, then again just a couple of years later for another school that couldn't access the health dept records. No problem either time.