I have a friend who just got the chickenpox(he's 19). He didn't get it when he was younger; should have went to a "chickenpox party". I've driven him to the clinic/been in contact with him for the past week. I feel really sorry for him. It looks really bad/the stupid calamine lotion won't come off of his skin and his face is completely red. If I had chickenpox as a child, is there a possibilty of me getting the chickenpox? For some reason, I've been feeling extremely itchy since I took him to the clinic. Is it extremely rare or impossible for it to happen twice? I feel really sorry for him and I can't imagine it happening to me.
DISCLAIMER: this post does not constitute medical advice. it is merely speculation on my part as an academic exercise. For any medical concerns, you should make an appointment with a physician ASAP.
strictly speaking, if you are a normal healthy individual and you definitely had chickenpox when you were a kid, it would be very unusual for you to develop chickenpox a second time since you would have antibodies to the virus.
that being said the exceptions would be:
(1) maybe as a kid you never got it. there are various viral exanthems that parents potentially could (i'm not saying that yours did) mistake for chickenpox. usually if a doc or a nurse saw it (or an experienced parent) they can tell the diff -- but possibility could mean that your 19 yo friend was your initial exposure
(2) maybe your friend doesn't really have chickenpox but some other kinda...rash that is communicable? unlikely since he was seen at a clinic...but still possible.
(3) immunocompromised state. if for whatever reason you aren't making the antibodies to varicella, then this effectively would be the same as if you encountered the virus for the first time.
(3b) as a side note, the reason there is a special varicella vaccine for people 65+ (or maybe it was 60+) called Zostavax is that they found that in older people, they lose some degree of antibody production against varicella and the virus reactivates and leads to painful shingles.
