Author in the Room: Varicella Vaccination

September 2005 Author in the Room® Teleconference

 

Authors: Rafael Harpaz, MD, MPH, and Fangjun Zhou, PhD

 

Article: "Impact of Varicella Vaccination on Health Care Utilization"

 

Summary Points:

• Varicella can be severe and at times life threatening, however, since the introduction of varicella vaccine in 1995, varicella hospitalizations have declined significantly, as have outpatient visits.
• Herd immunity is protecting unvaccinated persons from varicella. Since varicella can be more severe in adults, it is particularly important that patients are screened for evidence of immunity to varicella and anyone susceptible is vaccinated, so that children and adolescents do not remain susceptible at adulthood. The federal government's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) provides new recommendations regarding screening patients for evidence of immunity to varicella and vaccinating those at risk of the disease.
• The diagnosis of varicella has become challenging as rates have declined and since the disease is highly modified among those vaccinated. Laboratory testing will play an increasing role in diagnosis of varicella.
• Providers should report varicella to the local health department so that public health authorities can act to control outbreaks and can monitor for development of problems in the vaccination program

 

During the Author in the Room teleconference, Dr. Harpaz mentioned that the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has some photo images of more attenuated forms of varicella.

 

Additionally, the featured authors of "Impact of Varicella Vaccination on Health Care Utilization" are happy to be emailed with any follow-up questions. Dr. Rafael Harpaz can be reached at rzh6@cdc.gov, Dr. Fanjun Zhou can be reached at FAZ1@cdc.gov.