Study of virus isolation from pharyngeal swabs in children with varicella

Article Abstract:

Varicella (chickenpox), a common viral disease of childhood, is highly contagious. The herpes-type virus can be transferred by contact with the blister-like rash which appears on the skin. Another mode of transmission has also been postulated, because varicella has been transmitted to some hospital patients without contact with lesions. Transmission of varicella by air droplets from the breath of infected patients from the end of the incubation period, just before the rash appears, to three days afterwards, is suggested. To study the transmission routes of varicella between children, throat cultures were obtained from 117 infected and 70 healthy children ranging in age from infancy to 15 years of age. The cultures were examined for all herpesvirus types. In the infected group, five patients (4.3 percent) had the varicella-zoster virus, 23 (19.7 percent) had cytomegalovirus, five (4.3 percent) had herpes simplex and one (0.9 percent) had a respiratory virus. Of the healthy children, 10 (14.3 percent) had the cytomegalovirus, two (2.9 percent) had herpes simplex virus, one (1.4 percent) had a respiratory virus and one had the polio virus (1.4 percent). The rate of isolation of the varicella virus in throat cultures from children infected with varicella was low in comparison with the rate of isolation of herpes simplex and cytomegalovirus in cultures from children with those infections. The technique used to recover the virus from throat swabs may have been the reason for this finding. These results do not explain why patients with varicella can transmit the virus a day before the rash appears. Another, more sensitive technique to isolate viruses from the throat or nose should be used to study droplet transmission of varicella. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Herpesviruses, Pharynx, Throat

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Severity of viremia and clinical findings in children with varicella

Article Abstract:

Varicella, or chickenpox, is caused by the varicella zoster virus (VZV), a member of the human herpesvirus family. The disease progresses rapidly with onset of a low-grade fever and general malaise, and is followed with a rash that progresses from a macular eruption to papule, to vesicle, and finally to crusting. The is no vaccine currently available and no susceptible experimental animal host. A culture technique for isolating VZV using the human embryonic lung (HEL) cell system has been introduced. By means of this system, the stage of infection involving peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) has been demonstrated in immunocompetent children ill with varicella, just before and after the onset of the disease. The study group consisted of 21 children who were in good health prior to the development of the disease and were members of a household in which a child developed the typical vesicular eruption. Blood was drawn prior to the onset of disease. Temperatures and vesicle counts were recorded . The severity of the disease was estimated by the extent of skin involvement. In 13 of 21 cases, the extent of virus-infected PBMC could be estimated in blood samples obtained three days prior to the appearance of vesicular eruptions. The number of vesicles was correlated with body temperature the duration of fever and the number of infected cells. Evidence is presented for the role of circulating T and B lymphocytes in the dissemination of VZV in immunocompetent children. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Diagnosis, Pediatric diseases, Children, Diseases

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Varicella-zoster virus-specific immunity after herpes zoster

Article Abstract:

In childhood, varicella-zoster virus (VZV) infection commonly produces chickenpox, a generally harmless disease. However, the virus persists in the dorsal root ganglia (of the spinal nerves) and may be reactivated as herpes zoster (HZ) in the older patient, manifesting itself as an illness known as shingles. This condition is more severe when it results in postherpetic neuralgia (sharp pain along a dorsal nerve root). The incidence of HZ increases with age. The decline of VZV-specific T cells is similarly age-related. (T cells play an active role in immune functions, such as antibody production.) HZ stimulation of the T cell response to VZV was assessed in patients with shingles and healthy elders without HZ who received VZV vaccine. In older patients, the reactivation of VZV as HZ was accompanied by an increase in VZV-specific T cells, which persisted for at least two years. VZV antibody levels returned to baseline values at that time. Immunization with experimental (Oka strain) VZV vaccine elicited increased VZV-specific immune responses in the healthy subjects, who ranged from 66 to 88 years. The results of this study suggest that it is possible to enhance the T cell response to VZV in the elderly by HZ and by immunization. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

T cells, Shingles (Disease), Herpes zoster

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