That's fascinating. I definitely remember our daughter catching chicken pox when she was about 7, from another kid at school. The NP who helped us prescribed oatmeal baths, an antihistamine, and time. She also said that it was a good thing that she contracted them, because the body's natural immunity is far better than the immunity given by vaccine. (We still vaccinated her brother when he didn't get them.)

While not directly related, it does point out that growing up in a germ-free environment is not what our bodies were designed to do.

A random connection--it also reminds me of the issues going on now with forest fires and forest management. The "smokey the bear" (or smocky the bear, if you prefer ) approach that every fire is bad turned out to be not the right approach for many types of forests.