How are childhood shingles and the chicken pox vaccine related?
Children vaccinated against the varicella zoster virus that causes chicken pox are no more likely — and may be less likely — to get childhood shingles than those who are not vaccinated, researchers affirmed. The incidence of herpes zoster in a cohort of vaccinated children was rare at 27.4 per 100,000 person-years (95% confidence interval 22.7 to 32.7), found Hung Fu Tseng, PhD, MPH, of Kaiser Permanente in Pasadena, Calif., and colleagues. This rate was significantly lower than expected from prior studies of unvaccinated children, in which herpes zoster rates ranged from 46 to 220 cases per 100,000 person-years, they reported in the December issue of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Journal. The finding was perhaps not too surprising since a super-potent formulation of the varicella vaccine is used to immunize older adults against shingles. Action Points * Explain to interested patients that the varicella vaccine contains live attenuated virus, but this does not carry the same risk
Children vaccinated against the varicella zoster virus that causes chicken pox are no more likely — and may be less likely — to get childhood shingles than those who are not vaccinated, researchers affirmed. The incidence of herpes zoster in a cohort of vaccinated children was rare at 27.4 per 100,000 person-years (95% confidence interval 22.7 to 32.7), found Hung Fu Tseng, PhD, MPH, of Kaiser Permanente in Pasadena, Calif., and colleagues. This rate was significantly lower than expected from prior studies of unvaccinated children, in which herpes zoster rates ranged from 46 to 220 cases per 100,000 person-years, they reported in the December issue of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Journal. The finding was perhaps not too surprising since a super-potent formulation of the varicella vaccine is used to immunize older adults against shingles. Sources: http://www.medpagetoday.
