Positive Varicella Titer Result, Then Negative?

Nurses General Nursing

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Hey guys, 

Just got my labs back today! Everything looked good except for my varicella titer. I got the vaccines as a child but couldn't find the immunization records for school so I just opted for the titer. Came back positive, more than 165 RLU! So fast forward today, for my pre-employment business (yay), I had to get another varicella titer. This titer came back negative saying it was less than 135 RLU. I was just wondering if this has happened to anyone else? Or if I should be raising my eyebrows worried that it came back negative two years later? Nursing school has made me such a worry wart that I have not been able to sleep because of this. Anybody got any word of advice? Yes, I know I have to get the vaccine again, but is this uncommon? Or does this happen more than I think it does?

Thank you!

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Specializes in Med-Surg/Tele/ER/Urgent Care.

Just to clarify: 2years ago for school titers  were positive. Now (2 years later) second titer is negative?

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Yes. I took a titer for school two years ago and it was positive. Now it's saying negative. 

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Specializes in Med-Surg/Tele/ER/Urgent Care.

That means you are not protected any longer and will need booster vaccines after which you should get titers done to check antibody response.

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Yeah, I know. It's unfortunate that I have to get another set of vaccines, but that's okay. I was just taken aback that these came back negative. Is it possible to lose immunity just after two years? Weird. 

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8 hours ago, Kiroppi said:

Is it possible to lose immunity just after two years?

Well you didn't lose immunity after just two years...but after the amount of time it been since you were vaccinated, right? You just happened to check this two different times during the years after vaccination; as time moved on further from your vaccination you discovered you were no longer immune.

https://www.CDC.gov/vaccines/vpd/varicella/hcp/about-vaccine.html

You can't afford to lose sleep over something like this! ???

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Geriatrics, Wound Care.

My poor coworker never had chicken pox as a kid. She's been vaccinated multiple times for it as a nurse, but always gets a negative titer.. They gave up on her and just told her to avoid the Chicken Pox/Shingles rooms..

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Specializes in Med-Surg/Tele/ER/Urgent Care.
On 6/30/2021 at 5:49 PM, CalicoKitty said:

My poor coworker never had chicken pox as a kid. She's been vaccinated multiple times for it as a nurse, but always gets a negative titer.. They gave up on her and just told her to avoid the Chicken Pox/Shingles rooms..

Same for me with HepB, have had the series 3 times with boosters.Titers neg 2016, series repeated with positive titers afterwards, titers this year, negative.

 

 

 

 

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Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).
17 hours ago, PollywogNP said:

Same for me with HepB, have had the series 3 times with boosters.Titers neg 2016, series repeated with positive titers afterwards, titers this year, negative.

 

 

 

 

This also happened to me with the rubella part of the MMR. I havebeen vaccinated several time for work or school (No I didn't become autistic)>

 

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18 hours ago, PollywogNP said:

Same for me with HepB, have had the series 3 times with boosters.Titers neg 2016, series repeated with positive titers afterwards, titers this year, negative.

 

 

 

 

Get checked for celiac

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