Varicella seroprevalence in healthcare workers in a tertiary hospital: an audit of cross-sectional data

Gorny, Alexander Wilhelm; Mittal, Chikul; Saw, Sharon; Venkatachalam, Indumathi; Fisher, Dale; Tambyah, Paul Anantharajah

doi:10.1186/s13104-015-1656-0

Cited by 9 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…With antibodies to VZV in more than 90% of women of child-bearing age, the risk of birth defects and perinatal new-born complications and death is low [2]. This high antibody prevalence is in line with similar observations in other countries in the region [5, 22]. Nevertheless, when vaccination programmes compete for limited resources such as in Lao PDR, VZV vaccination may not be warranted, except for high-risk individuals (e.g.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 58%

Varicella zoster and fever rash surveillance in Lao People’s Democratic Republic

Nouanthong¹,

Hübschen

Billamay³

et al. 2019

BMC Infect Dis

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Background In Lao PDR, the epidemiology of varicella infection is uncertain, since it is not a notifiable disease and VZV outbreaks are rarely reported as fever/rash (F/R) diseases. Methods We estimated the seroprevalence of VZV (IgG ELISA) in different age cohorts (9 months to 46 years; N = 3139) and investigated VZV and 6 other viruses in patients during F/R outbreaks and in an ad hoc sentinel site in the context of the national reporting system (IgM ELISA, PCR). Results At least 80% of the sampled population had evidence of VZV infection before the age of 15. The largest increase in seroprevalence occurred between the age groups 1 to 5 and 6 to 7 year-olds . A VZV outbreak (clade 2) also occurred in this age group mostly during the first year of primary school (median age 6 years, interquartile range 4.0–7.5). During a dengue outbreak, 6% had varicella. At our F/R sentinel site, 14% of children with viral etiology were laboratory diagnosed as varicella and among others, a sizeable number of measles ( N = 12) and rubella cases ( N = 25) was detected compared to those reported for the whole country ( N = 56 and 45), highlighting nationwide a large challenge of underreporting or misdiagnosis of these notifiable diseases because of lack of diagnostic laboratory capacity. Conclusion We recommend strengthening the clinical and laboratory diagnosis of VZV, measles and rubella, the surveillance and reporting of notifiable F/R diseases by retraining of healthcare workers and by setting up sentinel sites and enhancing laboratory capacity. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12879-019-3990-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 58%

Varicella zoster and fever rash surveillance in Lao People’s Democratic Republic

Nouanthong¹,

Hübschen

Billamay³

et al. 2019

BMC Infect Dis

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“…Seroprevalence studies from tropical countries in Asia are consistent with the older age of acquisition of VZV infection compared to that observed in Europe and North America (11). The factors associated with susceptibility to VZV were age and profession (12). This correlated with published studies indicating that age was associated with serological susceptibility to VZV.…”

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confidence: 79%

Prevalence and Characteristics of Pediatric Healthcare Workers without Immunity to Varicella zoster Virus

et al. 2017

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SUMMARY: This study aimed to determine the proportion of varicella non-immune pediatric healthcare workers (HCWs) of the Pediatrics Department of King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital and to determine cost-effective strategies for identifying non-immune personnel. A cross-sectional study using a self-administered questionnaire to determine HCWs' histories of chickenpox or 2-dose varicella vaccination was conducted. From a total of 699 HCWs, 653 HCWs (93z), including 145 physicians (22z), 297 nurses (46z), and 211 administrative staff (32z), responded to questionnaires. There were 475 HCWs (73z) who had a history of chickenpox, 58 (9z) who had completed the 2-dose varicella vaccine schedule, and 120 (18z) whose varicella-zoster virus (VZV) immunity status was uncertain. In total, 107 HCWs (89z) were tested for VZV IgG, 90 of whom had immunity, and 17 were determined to be non-immune. After combining history and VZV IgG test results, the prevalence of non-immune HCWs was 2.6z (95zCI 1.4-3.8), with those 40 years of age at higher risk of nonimmunity. Implementing a strategy that involves testing of only those with an unknown VZV status and vaccination for only those determined to be non-immune costs 1,801 United States dollar (USD), less than the total cost (4,601 USD) for vaccinating all HCWs with uncertain status

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“…Although the majority of pregnant women are immune, still 12% are susceptible to VZV infection. Vaccination of susceptible women in childbearing years is recommended and advocated to avoid the risk of perinatal and congenital varicella in addition to the chance of nosocomial exposure of health care worker to infection [27]. A screening program for all women in reproductive age may be costly and inappropriate, so we can recommend vaccinating women having one or all of the following criteria: (i) less than 25 years, (ii) nulli- or primipara, and (iii) have no history of varicella infection.…”

Section: Strengths and Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seroprevalence of varicella-zoster virus among pregnant women in Fayoum Governorate, Egypt

Ibrahim

Wahed

Eid

et al. 2019

J. Egypt. Public. Health. Assoc.

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BackgroundChickenpox infection acquired during pregnancy is a serious condition. There may be congenital malformations and neonatal varicella syndrome with significant morbidity and mortality. Egypt has no routine varicella-zoster vaccination program.ObjectiveTo assess the immune status against varicella-zoster virus (VZV) antibodies among a group of pregnant women and to study the relationship between VZV seroprevalence and some sociodemographic characteristics.Subjects and methodsA descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on a group of pregnant women (n = 333) attending antenatal care (ANC) clinic at Fayoum University Hospital. Serologic testing for VZV was performed using ELISA through the years 2016–2017.ResultsVZV seroprevalence was detected in 294 (88.3%) of the 333 recruited pregnant women. Older age > 25 years old was significantly associated with low percent of VZV-negative antibodies (6.7% in versus 17.4% in younger age, OR (95%CI) 0.34 (0.17–0.70)), also having more than one child was significantly associated with a low percent of VZV-negative antibodies (8.2% versus 16.1% among participants with no children or having one child, OR 0.34 (0.17–0.70)).ConclusionsDespite the absence of a routine VZV vaccination program in Egypt, VZV immunity was high among pregnant women, but less than that reported in many developed countries. We recommend targeted vaccination for women in the reproductive age especially young and primipara.Trial registrationEthical Committee Registration number R67 session 42: date 12/11/2017(retrospectively registered).

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Varicella seroprevalence in healthcare workers in a tertiary hospital: an audit of cross-sectional data

Cited by 9 publications

References 16 publications

Varicella zoster and fever rash surveillance in Lao People’s Democratic Republic

Varicella zoster and fever rash surveillance in Lao People’s Democratic Republic

Prevalence and Characteristics of Pediatric Healthcare Workers without Immunity to Varicella zoster Virus

Seroprevalence of varicella-zoster virus among pregnant women in Fayoum Governorate, Egypt

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