title: [Prevalence of varicella-zoster virus antibodies in young adults from different Brazilian climatic regions].
abstract: To evaluate the prevalence of varicella-zoster virus infection in young adults from different Brazilian urban regions, 975 serum samples from blood donors aged 20 to 29 years, from tropical climate cities (Salvador and Fortaleza) and from temperate climate cities (S o Paulo, Curitiba and Porto Alegre) were tested by an in-house ELISA for detection of anti-varicella-zoster virus IgG antibodies. The overall prevalence was 94.2%. The lowest rate was observed in Fortaleza (88.7%) and the highest in Curitiba (99.5%). Seroprevalence in tropical regions of Brazil (89.4%) was significantly higher than in temperate regions (97.3%), a similar pattern to that observed in other tropical countries.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Microbiologia, Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil. adiasreis@bol.com.br
authors.forename: Alexanda Dias
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Reis
authors.forename: Claudio Sérgio
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Pannuti
authors.forename: Vanda Akico Ueda Fick
authors.initials: VA
authors.lastname: de Souza
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood*; D001782:Blood Donors; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005243:Feces / Q000469:parasitology; D014645:Herpesvirus 3, Human / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000097:blood*; D015995:Prevalence; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D014329:Tropical Climate; D014505:Urban Population
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D007074:Immunoglobulin G