Quote:
Originally Posted by Aces4
Question: Can one have natural immunity to chickenpox even though they have never had chickenpox?
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Short answer, highly unlikely.
Your question is actually 2 questions in one:
1) Can someone who doesn't believe they ever had chicken pox have immunity?
Yes, since antibody studies show almost everyone who "never had chicken pox", actually did---a sub-clinical case, an exposure that triggered an immune response, etc.
2) Can someone who truly never had chicken pox or raised an antibody response, someone whose Varicella titer is zero have "natural immunity?
Highly improbable. The explanation would be fairly complex, but the simple version is that our immune system is constantly "experimenting" with theoretical antibodies against theoretical diseases. So technically, even if the Martian flu comes back with the samples NASA is planning on bringing back from Mars, there would be some people with "natural immunity". It's also a two edged sword. The "experimental" antibody could be harmful to ourselves, in which case it is supposed to be destroyed when it fails the test of "sameness" against our major histocompatibility complex in specialized immunologically active tissues. But when that "self-destruct" mechanism fails, we get autoimmune diseases, such as lupus or Hashimoto's thyroiditis. (Sorry, that
was the simple version)