title: Epidemiology of severe varicella-zoster virus infection in Spain.
abstract: Data of hospitalizations for varicella and herpes zoster in Spain during the 1999-2000 period were obtained from the national surveillance system for hospital data. A total of 3083 hospitalizations for varicella and 6324 for herpes zoster were identified, representing an annual incidence of 4.1 and 8.4 per 100,000 persons per year, respectively. Almost half of patients hospitalized for varicella were children under 5 years of age. In contrast, 78% of hospitalizations for zoster occurred in adults >50 years of age. Hospitalizations for varicella and herpes zoster resulted annually in 11,141 and 40,090 days of hospitalization and a cost of 3.2 and 7.0 million, respectively.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences, Rey Juan Carlos University, Avda de Atenas s/n, 28922 Alcorcón, Madrid, Spain. a.gildemiguel@cs.urjc.es
authors.forename: Angel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gil
authors.forename: María
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: San-Martín
authors.forename: Pilar
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Carrasco
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: González
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D002644:Chickenpox / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006562:Herpes Zoster / Q000453:epidemiology*; D014645:Herpesvirus 3, Human; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012737:Sex Factors; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology