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Article: Varicella vaccine reduces contagiousness of chickenpox.
- Article from:
- Medical Letter on the CDC & FDA
- Article date:
- September 5, 2004
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2004 SEP 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Children and adolescents who have received the varicella (chickenpox) vaccine and contract varicella are about half as contagious as those who have not been vaccinated, according to a new study.
Varicella is a highly infectious disease caused by the varicella zoster virus, which is spread by droplet or airborne transmission. Before the varicella vaccination program in the United States, approximately 4 million varicella cases occurred each year, resulting in 10,600 hospitalizations and 100 deaths. The majority of cases occurred in children, which reflects the highly contagious nature of the disease. Limited data are ...