“…They found that the varicella vaccination provided transplant patients with less protection from symptomatic VZV diseases than natural infections, but it did provide effective protection from life‐threatening diseases. Nilsson comments on the findings . …”
“…They found that the varicella vaccination provided transplant patients with less protection from symptomatic VZV diseases than natural infections, but it did provide effective protection from life‐threatening diseases. Nilsson comments on the findings . …”
AimRecent studies focusing on morbidity and mortality rates of immunocompromised children with varicella‐zoster virus (VZV) infections are scarce. We aimed to summarise our experience.MethodsThe study was a retrospective analysis of the medical records of children, who were admitted to Hadassah‐Hebrew University Medical Centre, Jerusalem, Israel, during the period of 2008‐2016. Data regarding baseline characteristics, treatment and outcome were extracted from patient's medical files.ResultsWe enrolled 74 patients (43% males) with a mean age of 8 (1‐19) years. Most patients (72%) had no reported complications. Clinical outcome was favourable with 73 (99%) patients who had completely recovered and none died. Multivariable analysis identified the presence of fever (P = .005 and 0.02; hazard ratio (HR) 7.72 and 17.61, for total and herpes zoster groups, respectively) and prolonged interval period from clinical presentation to treatment onset (P = .021 and 0.025; HR 1.68 and 2.26, respectively), as associated with higher rates of complications.ConclusionOur results found low complication rate of VZV‐associated infections in immunocompromised children admitted to a single centre. This should encourage conducting further large multicentre studies evaluating management of low‐risk patients with oral acyclovir treatment.
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