AIM To evaluate the risk factors for breakthrough varicella in a follow up study of a cohort of 181 healthy children immunised when aged 9-24 months with a reformulated Oka strain varicella vaccine (SmithKline Beecham Biologicals/Oka). DESIGN The children were randomised in a double blind manner into one of four groups to receive one of two production lot vaccine batches, at two different tit...

BACKGROUND We recently reported a more rapid waning of vaccine-induced humoral immunity (measles vaccine) in children with asthma. It is unknown if asthma affects susceptibility to vaccine-preventable diseases. OBJECTIVE To determine whether asthma is associated with an increased risk of vaccine-preventable disease, e.g., breakthrough varicella infection. METHODS This was a retrospective po...

CONTEXT Before licensure of varicella vaccine in 1995, varicella was a universal childhood disease in the United States, causing 4 million cases, 11,000 hospitalizations, and 100 deaths every year. OBJECTIVE To examine population-based disease surveillance data in 3 communities to document the impact of the varicella vaccination program. DESIGN, SETTING, AND SUBJECTS Active surveillance for...

All Canadian provinces and territories have had routine immunization programs for one-dose varicella vaccination since 2007, a strategy that has reduced varicella disease rates dramatically. However, breakthrough cases still occur, and some cases are severe. There is increasing evidence that immunity to one dose of the vaccine can wane in a vaccinated population, and the disease may be shifting...

We performed an ecological study using sentinel consultation data from a medical deputising service to assess the impact of increasing coverage with childhood varicella vaccine on the incidence risk of varicella and zoster in the population served by the deputising service in Victoria, Australia from 1998 to 2012. Following a successful vaccination programme, the incidence of varicella in Austr...

Vaccination of healthy children against varicella using the live attenuated Oka vaccine has been available in Japan and south Korea for several years. In 1996, a programme of universal vaccination of children to prevent varicella was introduced in the USA and other countries, including Canada, Germany, and Sweden, have licensed the vaccine for use in healthy children. This article reviews the o...

Chicken pox is a self-limited exanthematous disease that primarily affects children. Varicella zoster virus (VZV) has been considered to be the causative agent. VZV infections manifest as varicella and herpes zoster usually cause mild infections, without any severe complications in immunocompetent children [1]. However, in certain individuals with immunocompromised status, the infection may sho...

In March 1995, the US Food and Drug Administration approved a live attenuated varicella vaccine for use in healthy children 12 months to 12 years old. We report here an 18-month-old girl with cell-mediated immunodeficiency who developed a severe vaccine-associated rash and clinical evidence of vaccine-associated pneumonia 1 month after inadvertent receipt of varicella vaccine.