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Long -term persistence of antibodies against varicella in fully immunized healthcare workers: an Italian retrospective cohort study

BACKGROUND: Chickenpox is a highly contagious disease caused by the varicella zoster virus (VZV), and in infants, adolescents, adults, pregnant women, and the immunocompromised it can be serious. The best way to prevent chickenpox is immunization with the varicella vaccine. Protective levels of anti...

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Autores principales: Bianchi, Francesco Paolo, Tafuri, Silvio, Larocca, Angela Maria Vittoria, Germinario, Cinzia Annatea, Stefanizzi, Pasquale
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8152326/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34034659
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12879-021-06180-x
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author Bianchi, Francesco Paolo
Tafuri, Silvio
Larocca, Angela Maria Vittoria
Germinario, Cinzia Annatea
Stefanizzi, Pasquale
author_facet Bianchi, Francesco Paolo
Tafuri, Silvio
Larocca, Angela Maria Vittoria
Germinario, Cinzia Annatea
Stefanizzi, Pasquale
author_sort Bianchi, Francesco Paolo
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Chickenpox is a highly contagious disease caused by the varicella zoster virus (VZV), and in infants, adolescents, adults, pregnant women, and the immunocompromised it can be serious. The best way to prevent chickenpox is immunization with the varicella vaccine. Protective levels of antibodies induced by the varicella vaccine decline over time, but there is currently no formal recommendation for testing anti-varicella zoster virus (VZV) IgG levels in immunized healthcare workers (HCWs). METHODS: The aims of this study were to evaluate the seroprevalence of circulating anti-VZV IgG in a sample a sample of students and residents of the medical school of the University of Bari, the long-term immunogenicity of the varicella vaccine, and the effectiveness of a strategy consisting of a third vaccine booster dose. The study population was screened as part of a biological risk assessment conducted between April 2014 and October 2020. A strategy for the management of non-responders was also examined. RESULTS: The 182 students and residents included in the study had a documented history of immunization (two doses of varicella vaccine). The absence of anti-VZV IgG was determined in 34% (62/182; 95%CI = 27.2–41.4%), with serosusceptibility more common among males than females (p < 0.05). After a third varicella dose, seroconversion was achieved in 100% of this previously seronegative group. No serious adverse events were recorded. CONCLUSIONS: One-third of the study population immunized against VZV lacked a protective antibody titer, but a third dose of vaccine restored protection. Since it is highly unlikely that VZV will be eliminated in the immediate future, the loss of immunity in a substantial portion of the population implies a risk of varicella outbreaks in the coming years. Screening for varicella immunity in routine assessments of the biological risk of medical students and HCWs may help to prevent nosocomial VZV infections.
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spelling pubmed-81523262021-05-26 Long -term persistence of antibodies against varicella in fully immunized healthcare workers: an Italian retrospective cohort study Bianchi, Francesco Paolo Tafuri, Silvio Larocca, Angela Maria Vittoria Germinario, Cinzia Annatea Stefanizzi, Pasquale BMC Infect Dis Research BACKGROUND: Chickenpox is a highly contagious disease caused by the varicella zoster virus (VZV), and in infants, adolescents, adults, pregnant women, and the immunocompromised it can be serious. The best way to prevent chickenpox is immunization with the varicella vaccine. Protective levels of antibodies induced by the varicella vaccine decline over time, but there is currently no formal recommendation for testing anti-varicella zoster virus (VZV) IgG levels in immunized healthcare workers (HCWs). METHODS: The aims of this study were to evaluate the seroprevalence of circulating anti-VZV IgG in a sample a sample of students and residents of the medical school of the University of Bari, the long-term immunogenicity of the varicella vaccine, and the effectiveness of a strategy consisting of a third vaccine booster dose. The study population was screened as part of a biological risk assessment conducted between April 2014 and October 2020. A strategy for the management of non-responders was also examined. RESULTS: The 182 students and residents included in the study had a documented history of immunization (two doses of varicella vaccine). The absence of anti-VZV IgG was determined in 34% (62/182; 95%CI = 27.2–41.4%), with serosusceptibility more common among males than females (p < 0.05). After a third varicella dose, seroconversion was achieved in 100% of this previously seronegative group. No serious adverse events were recorded. CONCLUSIONS: One-third of the study population immunized against VZV lacked a protective antibody titer, but a third dose of vaccine restored protection. Since it is highly unlikely that VZV will be eliminated in the immediate future, the loss of immunity in a substantial portion of the population implies a risk of varicella outbreaks in the coming years. Screening for varicella immunity in routine assessments of the biological risk of medical students and HCWs may help to prevent nosocomial VZV infections. BioMed Central 2021-05-25 /pmc/articles/PMC8152326/ /pubmed/34034659 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12879-021-06180-x Text en © The Author(s) 2021 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Open AccessThis article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) . The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) ) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.
spellingShingle Research
Bianchi, Francesco Paolo
Tafuri, Silvio
Larocca, Angela Maria Vittoria
Germinario, Cinzia Annatea
Stefanizzi, Pasquale
Long -term persistence of antibodies against varicella in fully immunized healthcare workers: an Italian retrospective cohort study
title Long -term persistence of antibodies against varicella in fully immunized healthcare workers: an Italian retrospective cohort study
title_full Long -term persistence of antibodies against varicella in fully immunized healthcare workers: an Italian retrospective cohort study
title_fullStr Long -term persistence of antibodies against varicella in fully immunized healthcare workers: an Italian retrospective cohort study
title_full_unstemmed Long -term persistence of antibodies against varicella in fully immunized healthcare workers: an Italian retrospective cohort study
title_short Long -term persistence of antibodies against varicella in fully immunized healthcare workers: an Italian retrospective cohort study
title_sort long -term persistence of antibodies against varicella in fully immunized healthcare workers: an italian retrospective cohort study
topic Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8152326/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34034659
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12879-021-06180-x
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