Tangent but I'm 35 now and got the first shot of the chicken pox vaccine at age 33. I still have to complete the vaccine with a booster but I had no adverse effects.

I really never considered it.

But this article made me look for more information, and I found that if I have contact with someone with chicken pox, and if I take the vaccine in the next 5 days, I may avoid the disease or at least have mild symptoms.

Not the worst case scenario

Not sure about the vaccine, but it is more dangerous to catch actual chicken pox as I had the dubious pleasure of having it in my mid-30s. Was fairly lucky since didn't have any complications but blisters (and especially blisters that become infected) can be both worse and slower to heal than with kids. One tiny benefit - no one bothered to ask for a doctor's note at work when I came back a week later.

communicable disease or chicken may have worked better, as three letter words don't work as well.

I had an exchange about this before:

chickenpox and non-refundable air travel

Varicella, AKA "Chicken Pox" is, as most of you know, a common childhood disease in most places. Children often contract it from other children when they are confined in somewhat "close" spaces such as schoolrooms in the months when windows are closed. The disease spreads through the respiratory route. Many children get the disease and show none of the usual "rash" while others break out visibly. Non-immune adults who contract the disease run the risk of it displaying as "varicella pneumonia" which, in adults, can be life-threatening.

Depending on how long the child was in the enclosed space, and if (big "if") the child actually had a case of full-blown varicella, there might be some concern for those who are not immune. Most adults are and they most certainly are if they've ever had a case as a child (and remember, you may have had the disease and not know it).

People with varicella may be contagious anywhere between two days prior to an actual rash breakout up until the 21st day after the rash appears.

Feel better now?

I'm wondering what would happen to the kid in immigration if they had been allowed to fly.

Were the child's pox scabbed over? If so, the disease was no longer communicable and there was no reason not to travel.

As has already been mentioned, varicella infections are communicable for several days prior to the appearance of a recognizable rash, and it takes two to three weeks for the illness to manifest after contracting the virus. That's why entire classrooms tended to experience outbreaks all at once before the introduction of the vaccine.

Chickenpox infections that never develop into full-blown rashes are also not uncommon, but they still follow the normal stages of contagion.

Varicella virus is also transmitted by people with active shingles cases. Shingles lesions can occur on any part of the body (e.g., under clothing), and even internally, so you will often have no way of knowing you've touched or been near a person with a contagious case of shingles.

In other words, you probably encounter many opportunities throughout the year to contract the virus without even knowing you've been exposed. You yourself could be one of those people who have actually been infected in the past without anybody ever realizing it. The only way to be sure is a titer test.

The initial varicella infection (chickenpox) is indeed significantly more dangerous in adults than in otherwise healthy young kids. Regardless of whether this child was actually fit to fly, you should either be tested or obtain the vaccine.

All seniors should get the shingles vaccine. MediCare will pay and it can literally be a life-saver.

Nothing quite so obvious, but it does beg the query whether or not the air travel would re-accomodate them on a later journey without cost, or if they would be trapped consuming the non-refundable air travel. The latter may have been aspect of their inspiration to make an effort to fly, terrible as the concept was.