The Nishinihon Journal of Dermatology
Online ISSN : 1880-4047
Print ISSN : 0386-9784
ISSN-L : 0386-9784
Clinical and Investigative Reports
Varicella in Children due to Familial Transmission of Infection from Patients with Herpes Zoster
Midori NIIZAWA
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2018 Volume 80 Issue 2 Pages 137-140

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Abstract

In recent years, the incidence of herpes zoster has been increasing in Japan, partly due to the aging of the population. In children, the coverage of varicella vaccination was only 30% until the initiation of routine vaccination in October 2014. Between July 2010 and December 2013, a follow-up survey on the rate of varicella infection in children due to the familial transmission of infection from patients with herpes zoster was performed in one dermatological clinic. Among 78 patients with herpes zoster, 9 were associated with the secondary development of varicella in 10 of 96 children. Secondary infection due to transmission from a sibling with varicella was observed in one child. Among all the children, the rate of varicella infection due to familial transmission from patients with herpes zoster was 11.5%. In terms of the familial relationship, elder brother-to-younger sister transmission of infection was observed in 1 case, parent-to-child transmission in 4 cases, and grandparent-grandchild transmission in 4 cases. The rate of varicella infection among the children was not associated with the sex or generation of patients with herpes zoster. Herpes zoster in the trigeminal and cervical nerve areas, as compared with that in other anatomical areas, was associated with a high varicella infection rate in the children (odds ratio, 1.7). In addition, the rate of varicella infection due to transmission from patients with herpes zoster in the ocular nerve area was particularly high (22.2%). The number of blisters caused by herpes zoster was not associated with the rate of varicella infection. The rate of varicella infection among children aged 0 years was 12.5%, which was 1.5 times as high as the infection rate in children aged 1-5 years. In 3 children, varicella developed within 10 days of the development of blisters in patients with herpes zoster. Therefore, the varicella zoster virus is considered to be discharged in the saliva some days before the development of eruptions in herpes zoster.

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© 2018 by Western Japan Division of JDA
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