FEARS that chickenpox was on the rise in France have been allayed as the numbers of cases fell in summer, showing it was a normal seasonal bout of the highly contagious varicella-zoster virus varicelle.
It is rarely fatal – about 20 deaths a year – but can cause severe complications, especially in adults, pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems, such as from chemotherapy. Lung problems are seen in 5-14% of adult sufferers.
However, it is very common in under-10s, with between 600,000 and 700,000 cases a year in France.
Britain’s NHS says 90% of adults who grew up in the UK are largely immune because they have had it before; at one time, parents would hold chickenpox parties so all neighbourhood children would get it together.
Chickenpox blisters, boutons, are no longer infectious once they have crusted over – typically after five or six days, but parents should make sure the spots do not become infected. Children may not be allowed to fly until after the last spot has disappeared – check with your airline.
There is a vaccine available for at-risk groups and health professionals.
Figures for chickenpox are not hard and fast, because it is not a notifiable infection. School heads do not ask for proof that children have been vaccinated or have hed the virus as they do for the compulsory vaccinations of diphtheria, tetanus and polio (diphterié, tétanos, poliomyélite).
This information is in the child’s carnet de santé and the UK equivalent health record book should be acceptable, although there can be complications as jabs are given at different ages.
Other vaccinations that are recommended are: whooping cough (coqueluche), haemophilius flu type B, hepatitis B (hépatite B), meningitis C, pneumococcus (pneumocoque) and measles (rougeole), mumps (oreillons) and rubella (rubéole). Human papillomavirus vaccination is also recommended at 14.
Tuberculosis vaccination was compulsory until 2007 and school heads can still request it if a child comes from a high-risk area.
Vaccinations for children under 13 are fully reimbursed, while over-13s are reimbursed at 65%. The vaccination itself is reimbursed at 70% or 60%, depending on whether it was done by doctor or nurse. There is no reimbursement for vaccinations needed for foreign travel, such as yellow fever or cholera.
Parents were urged to get children vaccinated in 2008 after a 12-year-old girl died from measles in Haute-Savoie, the first in France since 2005.
After the widely discredited MMR jab scare, some parents did not have their youngsters vaccinated and the number of measles cases in France has risen steeply – 566 cases in 2008, against 44 in 2006. The disease can lead to severe health problems such as pneumonia and brain damage.
Vaccination calendar
2 months - Diphtheria, tetanus and polio plus whooping cough, Haemophilus flu, hepatitis B, Pneumococcal infection
3 months - As above, but not Hep B or pneumococcus
4 months - As for two months
12 months - Pneumococcus, meningitis C, first dose measles, mumps and rubella
16-18 months - As for two months. Plus second dose measles, mumps and rubella
Six years - Diphtheria, tetanus and polio
11-13 years - Diphtheria, tetanus and polio, plus whooping cough
14 years - Human papillomavirus
16-18 years - Diphtheria, tetanus and polio
