Varicella vaccination in pediatric kidney and liver transplantation

Abstract

Reports about efficacy and safety of live-virus attenuated vaccines in patients before and after transplantation are mainly based on small patient numbers, making general recommendations for this patient population difficult. Children and adults as well as their close relatives and contact persons should be preferably immune to VZV before solid organ transplantation to avoid VZV-associated complications, thus making VZV vaccination necessary in susceptible individuals. The following literature review focused on efficacy and safety of VZV vaccination in pediatric kidney and liver transplant recipients. Review of literature also revealed that in all pediatric transplant candidates, humoral and cellular immunity against VZV should be consistently monitored to assess waning immunity under immunosuppressive treatment. This approach is desirable to estimate the risk of severe varicella disease after exposure in these patients.