“Chickenpox is seasonal in temperate zones, with the highest incidence seen in winter and spring. One explanation for

Question: "Chickenpox is seasonal in temperate zones, with the highest incidence seen in winter and spring. One explanation for this seasonality could be the significantly higher levels in ultra-violet radiation (UVR) of approximately 10-25-fold seen in summer in temperate zones, which could inactivate virus either in vesicular lesions or after their rupture," researchers noted in the Virology Journal. Was this underlying observation (not from this specific article, but in general) what inspired your idea about the links between sunlight and the spread of chickenpox infection? Or was it perhaps the links between TB and sunlight? If not, how did you come up with your idea?
- Keywords:
  chickenpox,
  discovery,
  experiment,
  research,
  virus
Asked by maddybishop1 to Jen, Jill, Mel, Phil, Stef on 18 Mar 2013.
- Phil Rice answered on 18 Mar 2013:
  
  Thanks Maddy. The “researchers” in question is ME. I remember one day (in spring) getting fed up with finding patients who were born in the Trpoics to be antibody negative and then asked myself the question why? I knew it must be a climatic factor which was significantly different between Temerate adn Tropical zones – and when you look, the factor with the biggest difference is ultra-violet radiation.
  I am still doing the experiments to try and prove/disprove the idea.