Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2017 Jun;74 Suppl 1(Suppl 1):S27-S33.
doi: 10.1016/S0163-4453(17)30188-3.

Is chickenpox so bad, what do we know about immunity to varicella zoster virus, and what does it tell us about the future?

Anne A Gershon  1
Affiliations
Review

Is chickenpox so bad, what do we know about immunity to varicella zoster virus, and what does it tell us about the future?

Anne A Gershon. J Infect. 2017 Jun.

Abstract

Varicella and zoster continue to cause significant morbidity and even mortality in children and adults. Complications include bacterial superinfection, central nervous system manifestations such as meningitis, encephalitis, and cerebellar ataxia, and pain syndromes especially post herpetic neuralgia. Many developed countries but not all, are now administering live attenuated varicella vaccine routinely, with a decrease in the incidence of disease, providing personal and herd immunity. There is some controversy, however, in some countries concerning whether a decrease in the circulation of wild type virus will result in loss of immunity to VZV in persons who have already had varicella. This manuscript reviews the complications of varicella and zoster in detail, the reasons for development of vaccines against these diseases, complications of vaccinations, and mechanisms by which immunity to this virus develops and is maintained. There are strong indications that the best way to control disease and spread of this virus is by vaccination against both.

Keywords: Chickenpox; Latency; Reactivation; Vaccination; Varicella; Zoster.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest

Prof Anne Gershon consults for GSK and has service contracts with Merck, both in relation to VZV.

References

    1. Centers for Disease C, Prevention. Outbreak of invasive group A Streptococcus associated with varicella in a childcare center – Boston, Massachusetts, 1997. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 1997;46:944–8. - PubMed
    1. Gershon A, Breuer J, Cohen JI, Cohrs RJ, Gershon MD, Gilden D, et al. Varicella zoster virus infection. Nat Rev Dis Primers. 2015;1:15016. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Gershon A, Takahashi M, Seward JF. Live attenuated varicella vaccine. In: Plotkin S, Orenstein W, Offit P, editors. Vaccines. 6. Philadelphia: WB Saunders; 2013. pp. 837–69.
    1. Gershon AA, Gershon MD. The Jeremiah Metzger Lecture Varicella Zoster. Virus: From Outside to Inside. Trans Am Clin Climat Assoc. 2016;127:282–99. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Gershon AA, Chen J, Gershon MD. A model of lytic, latent, and reactivating varicella-zoster virus infections in isolated enteric neurons. J Infect Dis. 2008;197(Suppl 2):S61–5. - PubMed

MeSH terms