title: Impact of vaccination against varicella on the reduction of the disease incidence in children and adolescents from Florianópolis, Brazil.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the impact of universal early childhood vaccination against varicella on the reduction of its incidence in a state capital in southern Brazil.
  
  
  METHODS
  Official epidemiologic surveillance data from the SINAN database for the 1997-2007 period were used to evaluate the impact of varicella vaccination targeting all children < 2 years of age in Florianópolis (the capital city of the state of Santa Catarina), Brazil, since 2002, thus comprising 5 years before and 6 years after the vaccination. Varicella incidence in Florianópolis was compared with the incidence in the rest of the state for four age groups (< 1, 1-4, 5-9, and 10-14 years).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among the 135,311 cases of varicella in the state of Santa Catarina during the 1997-2007 period, 70% were children under 10 years of age. The effectiveness of varicella vaccine ranged from 27 to 38% among the age groups but reached statistical significance only for children 1-4 years old.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The vaccine was effective in reducing varicella incidence in Florianópolis for children 1-4 years old.
authors: Departamento de Saúde Pública, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, SC, Brazil. kupek@ccs.ufsc.br
authors: Emil
authors: E
authors: Kupek
authors: Elaine F
authors: EF
authors: Tritany
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D002644:Chickenpox / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D019433:Chickenpox Vaccine / Q000592:standards*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D016014:Linear Models; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D019433:Chickenpox Vaccine