title: Seroprevalence of antibody to varicella zoster virus in England and Wales in children and young adults.
abstract: This is the first large-scale study to investigate the seroprevalence of varicella zoster (VZV) in the general population of England and Wales. The study focused on those aged 1-20 years, that age group in whom most infections occur. Prevalence rose rapidly with age, with 53% of children showing evidence of prior infection by the age of 5 years and most young adults having experienced infection. In addition to using a fixed cut-off recommended by the manufacturer, a mixture modelling technique was also used to define the proportion of the population seropositive in each age group. This was shown to be a more accurate approach to categorizing data from an epidemiological perspective.
authors.affiliation: Health Protection Agency Sero-Epidemiology Unit, Immunisation Division, Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre, London, UK. andrew.vyse@HPA.org.uk
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Vyse
authors.forename: N J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Gay
authors.forename: L M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Hesketh
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Morgan-Capner
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Miller
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D002644:Chickenpox / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004739:England / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D014645:Herpesvirus 3, Human / Q000276:immunology / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D014852:Wales / Q000453:epidemiology