Join the 'Varicella-Zoster -- Prophylaxis' group to help and get support from people like you. How it works

Varicella-Zoster -- Prophylaxis Blog

Blog (7)

Vaccinations Aren't Just for Kids

Posted 16 Sep 2011 by Drugs.com

FRIDAY, Sept. 16 – Public health experts often focus immunization awareness efforts toward protecting children, and with good reason: Facing a potentially bewildering schedule of vaccinations for their young ones, parents usually need all the help they can get. But vaccinations aren't just kid stuff. Medical science is creating an increasing number of immunizations targeted at adults, to help them avoid life-threatening diseases in middle-age and opportunistic infections when they're older. "Immunization is a life-long issue that we need to pay a lot of attention to," said Dr. Georges C. Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association. Some adult vaccinations are very well-known, like the annual shot that aims to prevent the spread of influenza. "You need an influenza shot every year," Benjamin said. "Part of that is because the virus changes every year, ... Read more

Chickenpox Vaccine May Wipe Out Related Deaths: Study

Posted 25 Jul 2011 by Drugs.com

MONDAY, July 25 – The varicella vaccine has nearly wiped out deaths from chickenpox in the United States, a new study shows. The vaccine, introduced in a one-dose form in 1995, has reduced deaths from chickenpox by 88 percent in all age groups and by 97 percent in young people 20 and under, according to the study from the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. "This is one of our success stories," said Dr. Charles Shubin, medical director of the Children's Health Center of Mercy FamilyCare in Baltimore, who is familiar with the study. In 2006, a second dose was added to the vaccination roster, but the decrease in deaths occurred largely during the time when just one shot was recommended, the researchers found. While chickenpox-related deaths are now relatively rare, the new two-dose regimen may eliminate them altogether, they said. The double dose will further ... Read more

Related support groups: Varicella Virus Vaccine, Varivax, Varicella-Zoster -- Prophylaxis

Chickenpox Vaccine Cuts Hospitalization Rates: Study

Posted 5 Jan 2011 by Drugs.com

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 5 – The one-dose chickenpox vaccine dramatically cut the number of chickenpox-related hospitalizations in the United States for the first half of the past decade, according to a new study. And a second study has found that the two-dose version of the vaccine, first recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2006, may offer youngsters even better protection. Chickenpox, caused by the varicella zoster virus, can result in dehydration, bacterial skin infections and, in rare cases, death. Vaccination for chickenpox became available in the United States in 1995. The so-called "one-dose era" ended in 2006 when a federal advisory panel recommended two doses of the vaccine be given – the first at ages 12 to 15 months, and the second at ages 4 to 6 years. According to researchers, the one-dose vaccine program, run by the CDC and state and local ... Read more

Related support groups: Varicella Virus Vaccine, Varivax, Varicella-Zoster -- Prophylaxis

Childhood Vaccination Rates Remain High in U.S.

Posted 16 Sep 2010 by Drugs.com

THURSDAY, Sept. 16 – U.S. childhood immunization rates remain high, with coverage for most routine vaccines at or over 90 percent, a new federal report shows. Among children aged 19 to 35 months, less than 1 percent had not received any vaccinations, according to the 2009 National Immunization Survey of more than 17,000 households with children born between January 2006 and July 2008. Coverage for vaccination against poliovirus, hepatitis B, chickenpox, and measles, mumps and rubella remained relatively stable and near or above the national Healthy People 2010 target of 90 percent or higher, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study. Rates of vaccination for hepatitis A and the birth dose of hepatitis B increased by more than 6 percent and 5 percent, respectively, from the previous year. Forty-four percent of the children had received rotavirus vaccine ... Read more

Without Chickenpox Shot, Kids' Risk Rises Ninefold

Posted 5 Jan 2010 by Drugs.com

MONDAY, Jan. 4 – Children whose parents refuse to have them vaccinated for chickenpox have a ninefold greater chance of contracting the disease than those who are vaccinated, a new study finds. The finding should serve as a red flag for an increasing number of American parents who are foregoing child vaccinations for various reasons, experts said. The new results could also "help parents make more informed decisions," said study senior author Jason Glanz, a research investigator at the Kaiser Permanente Institute for Health Research in Denver and senior author of a report on the findings. "When vaccines are discussed, parents are told about their benefits and possible risks," Glanz said. "They aren't told about the risks associating with not vaccinating." He and his colleagues published their findings in the January issue of Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. The Kaiser ... Read more

Related support groups: Varicella Virus Vaccine, Varivax, Varicella-Zoster -- Prophylaxis

Chicken Pox Shot Protects Against Shingles, Too

Posted 4 Dec 2009 by Drugs.com

FRIDAY, Dec. 4 – Children who are vaccinated against chicken pox may also have increased protection against shingles, new findings suggest. U.S. researchers looked at the health records of 172,163 children in southern California who were vaccinated with the varicella (chicken pox) vaccine between 2002 and 2008. Over an average of 2.5 years after receiving the chicken pox vaccine, only 122 cases of shingles (herpes zoster) occurred among the children, an estimated incidence of one case per 3,700 children per year. That rate is lower than what would be expected in unvaccinated children, according to the researchers. "The message to parents and pediatricians is: vaccinating your child against the chicken pox is also a good way to reduce their chances of getting herpes zoster," study lead author HungFu Tseng, a research scientist and epidemiologist at the Kaiser Permanente Department of ... Read more

Chickenpox Protection: Get That Booster

Posted 8 Aug 2008 by Drugs.com

FRIDAY, Aug. 8 – When the vaccine against chickenpox was introduced in the United States in 1995, medical experts hoped it would be a one-shot deal, with a single injection about the time of a child's first birthday giving lifelong immunity. Now, experts are learning that's not so. They've found that the protection from a single immunization fades over time, and that a booster shot is needed if you want your child to have the best chance at lifelong protection from chickenpox. The experts reached that conclusion after examining 10 years of data and the effects of the vaccine on more than 11,000 people who got the shot between 1995 and 2004. Of those individuals, 9.5 percent, or 1,080, experienced so-called "breakthrough disease," researchers reported last year in the New England Journal of Medicine. "The breakthrough was mild," said Dr. Robert Frenck Jr., a professor of pediatrics at ... Read more

Related support groups: Varicella-Zoster -- Prophylaxis

Ask a Question

Further Information

Related Condition Support Groups

Varicella-Zoster

Related Drug Support Groups

varicella virus vaccine, ProQuad, Varivax, measles virus vaccine/mumps virus vaccine/rubella virus vaccine/varicella virus vaccine