Biomedical Letters

A Surveillance of Differences in Transmission Rates of Varicella-Zoster Virus from Individuals with Herpes Zoster and Varicella

Sony Labh 1#, Ting Han 2#, Xiuli Li 1, Hui Xu 1, Yuee Ma 1, Yu Gong 1, Junying Gu 1, Zhiyu Liu 1, Yuling Shi 1*

1 Department of Dermatology & Venereology, Shanghai Tenth People's Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200072, P.R. China

2 Department of Clinical Nutrition, Shanghai Tenth People's Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200072, P.R. China.

Abstract

Varicella is highly contagious disease that spreads by airborne route from person-to-person. Varicella-zoster virus vaccination has been proven to be successfully declining the morbidity and mortality associated with varicella. However, many cases of varicella have been reported in vaccinated as well as unvaccinated individuals who had history of contact with individuals with either herpes zoster (HZ) or varicella. Surveillance was done during January 2011 to July 2014 in dermatological clinic at Shanghai Tenth People's Hospital, Shanghai, China and the collected data were analyzed. In this study, analysis of varicella vaccination status and history of contact with individuals with either herpes zoster or varicella in 994 varicella patients was done. Subjects were classified into two groups based on the history of exposure. The risk differences of varicella on exposure to herpes zoster and varicella patients; and role of varicella vaccination in decreasing that difference were evaluated. Nine hundred and nighty four individuals were identified with varicella diagnosis. Of these 994, history of contact with Varicella-Zoster Virus (VZV) infected individuals was unknown in 67 subjects. Of the remaining 927 subjects, 264 (28.48%) had history of exposure to individuals with HZ infections among which 61 (6.58%) were vaccinated and 203 (21.9%) were unvaccinated. The remaining 663 (71.52%) had history of exposure to individuals with varicella infections among which 65 (7%) were vaccinated and 598 (64.52%) were unvaccinated. Varicella-Zoster Virus (VZV) transmission from individuals with herpes zoster as well as varicella contributes to varicella morbidity. Transmission from varicella group is remarkably higher compared with herpes zoster group. The high incidence of VZV transmission from varicella infected individuals can be due to high infectivity of varicella, age of transmitting group, the immunization status and age of transmitted individuals.

Keywords: chickenpox, herpes zoster, shingles, vaccination, varicella, varicella-zoster virus

Received October 10, 2015 Revised November 16, 2015 Accepted November 25, 2015

*Correspondence: Yuling Shi Email: shiyuling1973@gmail.com Contact: +86-13816213884 Fax: +86-2166303983

# Authors contributed equally