title: Incidence of herpes zoster among children and adolescents in a community with moderate varicella vaccination coverage.
abstract: Active surveillance for herpes zoster (HZ) was conducted for 2 years (2000-2001) in the Antelope Valley community of 312,000 residents among 290 public and private schools, daycares, and healthcare providers. The true ascertainment-adjusted HZ incidence rate is 307 per 100,000 person-years and 138 per 100,000 person-years among children <10 and individuals aged 10-19, respectively. The unadjusted rate among vaccinated children is 9.5 per 100,000 person-years and an estimated 22 per 100,000 vaccine doses. Unvaccinated children with a previous history of varicella may have greater sensitivity to exogenous exposures (boosting) and a poorer cell-mediated response following primary infection relative to older age groups.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002140:California / Q000453:epidemiology; D002644:Chickenpox / Q000453:epidemiology*; D019433:Chickenpox Vaccine; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006562:Herpes Zoster / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D032541:Mass Vaccination; D008875:Middle Aged; D015166:Monitoring, Immunologic
chemical_list: D019433:Chickenpox Vaccine