Chickenpox May Help Lower Brain Tumor Risk
 

The July 15, 2001 issues of the American Journal of Epidemiology reports that researchers at the University of California, San Francisco have found patients who have brain tumors are much less likely to have had natural cases of the chickenpox.

When a person naturally gets a case of chickenpox, their body forms antibodies to the chickenpox virus that then give that person true lifetime immunity to the disease. In this study, 134 patients with gliomas were studied and found to be 60% less likely to have chickenpox antibodies in their blood, indicating they never had the disease.

The lead researcher, Dr. Margaret Wrench, concludes that a person who has had naturally occurring chickenpox may have an immune system that is better able to fight the formation of gliomas (the most common type of brain tumor) “before they become dangerous.”