How effective is the nest protection against measles?
Once you have experienced measles, you have a lifelong immunity to the virus that causes the disease. This is due to the fact that when you have measles, the immune system forms specific antibodies against the pathogen, which circulate in the organism for life and form an immunity. If mothers have already had a measles infection or become ill with measles during pregnancy, there are antibodies in the mother’s blood that are transferred to the child’s organism via the umbilical cord. There they provide sufficient natural protection in the first months of life. Since the baby is sufficiently protected against measles infection during nest protection, vaccination should only be carried out at the end of the first year of life, when the nest protection has already expired, as the vaccination effect would otherwise be cancelled out by the nest protection provided by the mother.
How well does the nest protection against chickenpox work?
Just as in the case of measles, chickenpox infection is nest protected in the first months of life, which initially protects the small babies sufficiently from a serious infection with possible consequential damage. If mothers are immune to chickenpox, i.e. in the form of a vaccination or a previous infection with the varicella zoster virus, some of the antibodies formed against this virus enter the child’s bloodstream via the placenta before birth. In the first three months of life, this provides sufficient protection for the baby.
Thereafter, the risk of infection with the Varicella zoster virus increases during the further development. From the sixth month of life onwards, the nest protection is completely lost. In order to protect the child sufficiently even after this, there is a vaccine which can be administered together with a combination vaccine for mumps, measles and rubella from the age of 12 months. Vaccination against chickenpox is particularly recommended because the virus is highly contagious and can be accompanied by serious complications such as seizures or meningitis and possibly permanent mental damage.
