Varicella complications in children one-site Polish population – a 19- year long survey

Abstract

OBJECTIVES. The aim of this study was to describe the epidemiology of chickenpox complications in children, based on a 19-year long survey. METHODS. This publication constitutes a review of medical records of 761 patients under the age of 18 who were hospitalized at the T. Browicz Provincial Hospital for Infectious Diseases in Bydgoszcz, Poland from the 1st of January 1999 to the 31st of December 2017. RESULTS. Over the study period, 761 children diagnosed with varicella complications were hospitalized. The mean number of hospitalizations in each year amounted to 40. The median age of admitted patients was 4 years. The median length of hospitalization was 5 days (ranged from 1 to 30 days). The most frequent varicella complications included respiratory tract infections – 229/761 (30.1%), bacterial skin infections – 189/761 (24.8%) and gastrointestinal tract disorders – 142/761 (18.6%). Pneumonia, bronchitis and gastrointestinal tract disturbances, were reported most often in children under 2 years of age, while neurological complications occurred most frequently in children at 3-6 years of age. No significant differences in the number of varicella complications between immunocompromised and immunocompetent children were reported. CONCLUSIONS. Varicella complications mainly affect the youngest immunocompetent children. Population-wide vaccination and herd immunity appears to be the best way to reduce the incidence of chickenpox and the rate of varicella complications. This study gives support for inclusion of universal varicella vaccine in the National Immunization Program in Poland.

Ukrainian War Refugee Children With Particularly Severe Viral Infections: A Case Series Report

“…8,20 Similarly, RV is a leading cause of gastroenteritis in Polish children, with most hospitalized patients being younger than 5 years old. 21,22 In both Poland and Ukraine, RV gastroenteritis prevalence peaks in winter months. 20,21…”

Complicações das internações por varicela em um hospital de referência em Fortaleza- Ceará, 2012-2018

“…As infecções bacterinas na pele em pacientes com varicela são complicações frequentes relatadas em estudos realizados no Brasil e no exterior, principalmente em crianças 11,12,[30][31][32][33] , em geral, devido às infecções causadas por bactérias do gênero Streptococcus pyogenes e Staphylococcus aureus, levando ao surgimento de impetigo, furúnculo, abscesso, erisipela e celulite 34 .…”

“…Alterações hematológicas, como anemia, trombocitopenia, trombocitose e neutropenia, são bem recorrentes em alguns estudos 11,12,40 . E teve a trombocitopenia associada ao quadro de varicela grave 11 .…”

“…O número de óbitos com ou sem complicações foi de 649 casos entre os anos de 2012 a 2016 10 . As complicações podem ser do tipo cutâneas, como infecções bacterianas na pele; neurológicas, como encefalite, cerebelite; ainda podem surgir complicações pulmonares, como pneumonia e pneumonite; hepáticas, como hepatite; cardiológicas e alterações geniturinárias como glomerulonefrite 4,[11][12][13] .…”

Bullous varicella in a preschool-aged patient

“…Complications such as bacterial skin superinfections, pneumonia, bronchitis, laryngotracheitis, and gastrointestinal tract disorders are the most characteristic in children under two years of age. Cerebellar ataxia, encephalitis, aseptic meningitis, transverse myelitis, and Guillain-Barre syndrome are the main viral CNS complications, they are more frequent in children 3-6 years of age [8,9]. Peripheral facial palsy, described by Hanalioğlu et al [10], is an extremely rare neurologic complication of varicella.…”