title: Humoral immunity and clinical reinfections following varicella vaccine in healthy children.
abstract: The duration of immunity following varicella-zoster vaccination in healthy children remains a critical issue. In a 3-year study of 140 OKA/Merck vaccine recipients, duration of immunity was assessed by two measures. The first was persistence of varicella-zoster antibody measured by modified fluorescent antibody to membrane antigen test. Thirty-six toddler vaccinees 12 to 24 months of age had sera obtained at 6 weeks, 1 year, and 2 years. Geometric mean titer +/- SD at 6 weeks was 57.7 +/- 2.9; at 1 year, it was 12.4 +/- 3.9; at 2 years, it was 9.9 +/- 3.9. Repeated-measures analysis of variance showed a significant overall decrease in antibody titer with time (F = 30.62, P less than .001). Post hoc comparisons indicated that the 6-week and 1-year titers were significantly different (P less than .001), but the difference between 1 and 2 years was not (P = .138). Clinical reinfections were also examined for 3 years after vaccination. Suspected varicella cases were confirmed by a fourfold or more increase in titer. Of 84 toddlers, 68 were exposed one or more times, and 6 became reinfected. Of 49 siblings, 45 were exposed, and one became reinfected. All 7 children had less than 70 vesicles and 6 of 7 were afebrile. No cases of zoster occurred. It is concluded that OKA/Merck varicella-zoster vaccination leads to antibody persistence for 2 years and the few reinfections that do occur are greatly attenuated.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Case Western Reserve School of Medicine, Cleveland Metropolitan General Hospital, Ohio.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: L P
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Rome
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Stancin
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Kumar
mesh_terms: D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000032:analysis*; D002644:Chickenpox / Q000473:pathology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D014645:Herpesvirus 3, Human / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D013997:Time Factors; D014611:Vaccination; D014765:Viral Vaccines
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D014765:Viral Vaccines