Remember: Adults Can Contract Childhood Illnesses Like Chickenpox Too

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I’m not particularly tapped into celebrity news so I only today came across the story about Angelina Jolie missing a movie premiere because she contracted chickenpox. If you’re a sports fan, you’ve probably seen the photos of NHL players like Sidney Crosby who are battling a league-wide outbreak of the mumps virus. Kirsten Fawcett, writing for US News, does a great job highlighting other news reports featuring similar pop-ups of so-called “childhood diseases.”

“California officials are battling the worst whooping cough epidemic to hit the state in 70 years. And last May, an Amish community in Ohio became the epicenter of America’s worst measles outbreak in nearly two decades after several unvaccinated individuals brought the disease home from a mission trip to the Philippines.”

The key word in that excerpt is “unvaccinated.” Even though I like to maintain a fair and unbiased tone in most of these posts (my job is to talk about ideas rather than champion them), the anti-vaccination movement is composed of dangerous idiots who are putting children in danger. If you as an adult are not immunized against disease (or need a booster shot), do so at your earliest convenience. It’s asinine that we as a society are in a “whooping cough outbreak” type of scenario in the first place.

But for some of these afflictions a non-surefire vaccine isn’t always enough to prevent picking them up. If you do happen to contract one of these diseases, Fawcett’s article offers advice for minimizing their impact. She interviews one doctor who notes that the older you are, the harder you’re going to get hit. Take a look at her piece (linked below) and let us know what you think in the comments below.