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A Study of Varicella Seroprevalence in a Pediatric and Adolescent Population in Florence (Italy). Natural Infection and Vaccination-Acquired Immunization

Background: Varicella is a well-known infectious disease that can have severe complications, also in young children. The Universal Varicella Vaccination (UVV) program was introduced in Tuscany (Italy) in 2003, with a two-dose vaccine schedule given to children between their 13th and 15th month, and...

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Autores principales: Zanella, Beatrice, Bechini, Angela, Bonito, Benedetta, Del Riccio, Marco, Ninci, Alessandra, Tiscione, Emilia, Bonanni, Paolo, Boccalini, Sara
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7918443/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33672915
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/vaccines9020152
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author Zanella, Beatrice
Bechini, Angela
Bonito, Benedetta
Del Riccio, Marco
Ninci, Alessandra
Tiscione, Emilia
Bonanni, Paolo
Boccalini, Sara
author_facet Zanella, Beatrice
Bechini, Angela
Bonito, Benedetta
Del Riccio, Marco
Ninci, Alessandra
Tiscione, Emilia
Bonanni, Paolo
Boccalini, Sara
author_sort Zanella, Beatrice
collection PubMed
description Background: Varicella is a well-known infectious disease that can have severe complications, also in young children. The Universal Varicella Vaccination (UVV) program was introduced in Tuscany (Italy) in 2003, with a two-dose vaccine schedule given to children between their 13th and 15th month, and at 5–6 years old, as a monovalent for varicella (V) or tetravalent (measles, mumps, rubella and varicella (MMRV)) formulation. Although varicella notifications have dramatically fallen in the last two decades, varicella disease underreporting remains a challenge. Methods: A qualitative immunoenzymatic test (ELISA) was used to measure the presence of anti-varicella antibodies in 165 sera of subjects aged 1–18 years residing in the province of Florence (Italy). Information regarding the anamnestic and vaccination status (including disease notification) was also collected. Results: Our study showed an overall varicella seropositivity of 75.8% (reaching the maximum at 96.3% in the 15–18 years age group). We found that varicella disease notification had been recorded for only 7/165 subjects; however, since 42/165 recalled having had the disease, we can hypothesize that some of them must have been underreported. Furthermore, our study showed that the presence of antibodies after the varicella vaccination remained over time, lasting up to 12 years. Conclusions: Although varicella seroprevalence is <95% in almost all our age groups (except for the 15–18 years age group), our data are encouraging and reflect the success of the introduction of the UVV program and the vaccination campaigns promoted in the Tuscany region.
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spelling pubmed-79184432021-03-02 A Study of Varicella Seroprevalence in a Pediatric and Adolescent Population in Florence (Italy). Natural Infection and Vaccination-Acquired Immunization Zanella, Beatrice Bechini, Angela Bonito, Benedetta Del Riccio, Marco Ninci, Alessandra Tiscione, Emilia Bonanni, Paolo Boccalini, Sara Vaccines (Basel) Article Background: Varicella is a well-known infectious disease that can have severe complications, also in young children. The Universal Varicella Vaccination (UVV) program was introduced in Tuscany (Italy) in 2003, with a two-dose vaccine schedule given to children between their 13th and 15th month, and at 5–6 years old, as a monovalent for varicella (V) or tetravalent (measles, mumps, rubella and varicella (MMRV)) formulation. Although varicella notifications have dramatically fallen in the last two decades, varicella disease underreporting remains a challenge. Methods: A qualitative immunoenzymatic test (ELISA) was used to measure the presence of anti-varicella antibodies in 165 sera of subjects aged 1–18 years residing in the province of Florence (Italy). Information regarding the anamnestic and vaccination status (including disease notification) was also collected. Results: Our study showed an overall varicella seropositivity of 75.8% (reaching the maximum at 96.3% in the 15–18 years age group). We found that varicella disease notification had been recorded for only 7/165 subjects; however, since 42/165 recalled having had the disease, we can hypothesize that some of them must have been underreported. Furthermore, our study showed that the presence of antibodies after the varicella vaccination remained over time, lasting up to 12 years. Conclusions: Although varicella seroprevalence is <95% in almost all our age groups (except for the 15–18 years age group), our data are encouraging and reflect the success of the introduction of the UVV program and the vaccination campaigns promoted in the Tuscany region. MDPI 2021-02-14 /pmc/articles/PMC7918443/ /pubmed/33672915 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/vaccines9020152 Text en © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Zanella, Beatrice
Bechini, Angela
Bonito, Benedetta
Del Riccio, Marco
Ninci, Alessandra
Tiscione, Emilia
Bonanni, Paolo
Boccalini, Sara
A Study of Varicella Seroprevalence in a Pediatric and Adolescent Population in Florence (Italy). Natural Infection and Vaccination-Acquired Immunization
title A Study of Varicella Seroprevalence in a Pediatric and Adolescent Population in Florence (Italy). Natural Infection and Vaccination-Acquired Immunization
title_full A Study of Varicella Seroprevalence in a Pediatric and Adolescent Population in Florence (Italy). Natural Infection and Vaccination-Acquired Immunization
title_fullStr A Study of Varicella Seroprevalence in a Pediatric and Adolescent Population in Florence (Italy). Natural Infection and Vaccination-Acquired Immunization
title_full_unstemmed A Study of Varicella Seroprevalence in a Pediatric and Adolescent Population in Florence (Italy). Natural Infection and Vaccination-Acquired Immunization
title_short A Study of Varicella Seroprevalence in a Pediatric and Adolescent Population in Florence (Italy). Natural Infection and Vaccination-Acquired Immunization
title_sort study of varicella seroprevalence in a pediatric and adolescent population in florence (italy). natural infection and vaccination-acquired immunization
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7918443/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33672915
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/vaccines9020152
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