Long-term protective immunity of recipients of the OKA strain of live varicella vaccine.
In spite of close contacts with patients who had varicella, 101 of 106 (95%) healthy and sick children (142 of 147 (97%) exposures of these children) who had received the OKA strain of live varicella vaccine 7 to 10 years earlier were protected against the disease completely. Among them, 37 of 38 (97%) vaccine recipients who received immunologic testing had varicella-zoster virus (VZV) antibodies tested by fluorescent antibody to membrane antigen method with a geometric mean titer of 1:9.3, and 37 of the 38 (97%) showed positive skin reaction to varicella-zoster virus antigen with erythema (mean diameter 13.4 mm). These findings were compared with those for 29 children who had contracted typical varicella 7 to 10 years earlier, whose seropositive rate was 100% with a geometric mean titer of 1:10.5, and 97% of whom (28/29) had positive skin reaction with mean diameter of 12.9 mm. These results indicate that the vaccine-induced protective immunity persists for approximately one decade and is almost equal to the long-term immunity following natural infection.
Asano
Y
Y
Nagai
T
T
Miyata
T
T
Yazaki
T
T
Ito
S
S
Yamanishi
K
K
Takahashi
M
M
D000293:Adolescent; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D002644:Chickenpox / Q000517:prevention & control*; D019433:Chickenpox Vaccine; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D014645:Herpesvirus 3, Human / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007111:Immunity, Cellular; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D012882:Skin Tests; D013997:Time Factors; D014611:Vaccination; D014765:Viral Vaccines / Q000276:immunology*
D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D019433:Chickenpox Vaccine; D014765:Viral Vaccines