Prevalence and characteristics of pediatric healthcare workers without immunity to varicella zoster virus.

This study aimed to determine the proportion of varicella non-immune pediatric healthcare workers (HCWs) of Pediatrics Department, King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital and to determine cost effective strategies to identify non-immune personnel. A cross-sectional study, using a self-administered questionnaire to determine history of chickenpox or 2-dose varicella vaccination was conducted. From a total of 699 HCWs, 653 HCWs (93%) including 145 physicians (22%), 297 nurses (46%) and 211 administrative staff (32%) responded to questionnaires. There were 475 HCWs (73%) who had a history of chickenpox, 58(9%) who had completed the 2-dose varicella vaccine schedule and 120(18%) whose VZV immunity status was uncertain. 107 HCWs (89%) were tested for VZV IgG, 90 of which had immunity and 17 HCWs determined non-immune. After combining history and Varicella IgG results, the prevalence of non-immune HCWs was 2.6% (95%CI 1.4-3.8), with those <40 years of age at higher risk of non-immunity. Implementing a strategy that tested only those with unknown VZV status and vaccination of only those determined non-immune cost 1801 USD. This strategy costs less than vaccinating all HCWs with uncertain status, which costs 4601 USD. PMID: 27580582 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: Japanese Journal of Infectious Diseases - Category: Infectious Diseases Authors: Tags: Jpn J Infect Dis Source Type: research