How UV Light Can Prevent Chickenpox
The risks associated with exposure to ultraviolet (UV) rays are well documented: too much UVA and your skin loses its elasticity and you get wrinkles (think ‘UV Age); too much UVB and you burn and risk skin cancer (UV Burn).
However, some exposure to UV light can be therapeutic. Research by the University of London has found that the chickenpox virus may be contained (less likely to spread) if it is exposed to UV light. They found that in areas with high UV levels, there was less occurrence of chickenpox compared to the level of outbreaks seen in places with lower levels of UV light.
The findings may suggest that you’re more likely to get chickenpox if you live in an area with a cooler climate, and also may suggest how the virus can be avoided – as could shingles.
Chickenpox is normally only contracted once in a lifetime (usually during childhood) but if a person who has had chickenpox is exposed to the virus again (and is run down or has low levels of immunity at the time) they can develop shingles. The virus that causes chickenpox and shingles is called the varicella zoster virus. Shingles is a very unpleasant illness and if the research into UV rays could lead to a way of preventing the spread of that infection then it could help many thousands of people every year.
The virus is very infectious and is dangerous to the foetus if contracted during pregnancy. It is normally caught through close contact (skin-to-skin) when the blisters caused by the virus are still ‘wet’.
One of the researchers, Dr Phil Rice, believes that UV light exposure could kill the virus whilst it is on the skin, preventing it from infecting others.
The findings are consistent with anecdotal evidence that chickenpox is less common in tropical regions, and is more common in cooler climates during the Autumn and Winter seasons, when UV levels are low.
Previously, it had been assumed that the lower incidence of chickenpox in tropical climates was due to lower population density and other sociological factors. Dr Rice said, “No one had considered UV as a factor before, but when I looked at the epidemiological studies they showed a good correlation between global latitude and the presence of the virus.”
