Vaccine Drastically Cut Chickenpox Deaths: CDC

ATLANTA -- Chickenpox vaccine has dramatically cut deaths from the disease, especially in children, says a new government study proclaiming an important public health victory.

Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that chickenpox deaths fell from an average of 105 per year to 14 after the vaccine had been available for a dozen years.

Deaths declined in all age groups, but the drop was most significant among children.

"To see the near elimination of chickenpox deaths in this country is very exciting," said Jane Seward, a CDC official who co-authored the paper. She has been involved in the agency's chickenpox vaccine program for 15 years.

The report was released online Monday by the journal Pediatrics.

Chickenpox is caused by a virus and is highly contagious. Symptoms include an itchy skin rash and fever. Most kids suffer no more than that, but some suffer complications like skin infections, swelling of the brain and pneumonia. Severe cases are more common among adolescents and adults who get it for the first time. Also, the virus – called varicella – can reactivate in people later in life and cause a painful illness called shingles.

While rarely fatal, chickenpox was very common before the vaccine – nearly one in 10 pre-adolescent children would get it in a year, said Dr. Eugene Shapiro, a Yale University expert in infectious disease.

In 1995, the government first recommended that all children get a dose of chickenpox vaccine. One dose turned out to be about 86 percent effective. A second dose is now recommended.

The new CDC study looked at national records for deaths attributed to chickenpox. In the five years before the vaccine, an average of 105 Americans died of the virus annually. By 2007 – 12 years after the vaccine – the annual death toll had dropped to 14, and almost all were adults.

The vaccine deserves credit for the decline in children's deaths, Seward said. It's also likely cut adult deaths because there are fewer infected children around to spread it to adults, she added.

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Comments

[ruskie44]

09:03 AM on 08/03/2011

I've written this before but I will say it again. When I worked as a Waldorf Teacher, one year all the children came down with the chicken pox. I'd say around twenty kids got it ( only child was vaccinated against it). The kids were out for two days, three tops. No one was out for even close to a week. They came back and besides a few little scabs on their bellies, there was no way of even knowing they had just had the chicken pox. I would say the seasonal flu is WAY more of a big deal than what I witnessed with those children. Only one kid had it pretty bad and came back with his body ( not face) covered in many scabs. From what I have seen, chicken pox for young children is no worse than getting the flu. Probably even easier. I'm sure there are those few who get a very bad go of it but if it provides lifetime immunity AND gives added protection for herpes zoster? Makes a lot more sense to me to let children forgo this particular vaccine.

[GarySGoldman]

07:22 PM on 07/25/2011

There is a greater chance of a person dying by being struck by lightning in the U.S. (National Oceanic & Atmospheric—NOAA—Technical Memorandum NWS SR-193) than of a child dying from contracting chickenpox.

Prior to the universal varicella vaccination program, 95% of adults experienced natural chickenpox (usually as school aged children)—these cases were usually benign and resulted in long term immunity. This high percentage of individuals having long term immunity has been compromised by mass vaccination of children which provides at best 70 to 90% immunity that is temporary and of unknown duration—shifting chickenpox to a more vulnerable adult population where chickenpox carries 20 times more risk of death and 15 times more risk of hospitalization compared to children. Add to this the adverse effects of both the chickenpox and shingles vaccines as well as the potential for increased risk of shingles for an estimated 30 to 50 years among adults. The Universal Varicella (Chickenpox) Vaccination Program now requires booster vaccines; however, these are less effective than the natural immunity that existed in communities prior to licensure of the varicella vaccine. Routine vaccination against chickenpox has produced continual cycles of treatment and disease.

[JonGH]

11:44 PM on 07/25/2011

Indeed Gary.

"We present data to confirm that exposure to varicella boosts immunity to herpes-zoster. We show that exposure to varicella is greater in adults living with children and that this exposure is highly protective against zoster."

"Mass varicella vaccination is expected to cause a major epidemic of herpes-zoster, affecting more than 50% of those aged 10-44 years at the introduction of vaccination.'

-Brisson M, et al. Vaccine. 2002 Jun 7;20(19-20):2500-7.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12057605

Please vaccinate judiciously.

Like all pharmaceutical products, vaccines (injected biologics) involve risk. Hence, the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act was passed in the United States in 1986; which in turn created the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) in 1988; which has since paid out $1.9 billion in damages (petitioners award amount only). http://www.hrsa.gov/vaccinecompensation/

Transparency from our federal regulatory and advisory health organizations (who work in a public/private partnership with the pharmaceutical industry) regarding the full risks and benefits of the national immunization program "recommended" by the federal goverment should be a fundamental right of all medical consumers. Please practice informed consent for your family.

Safe Minds
http://www.safeminds.org/

Smart Vax
http://smartvax.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=46&Itemid=37

The National Vaccine Information Center
http://www.nvic.org/

[Dyson]

06:53 PM on 07/28/2011

Interesting to speculate on the reaction of those who do not vaccinate against chickenpox. If their own kids do not get the disease as a kid (there are only so many pox parties one can go to), what will they do?
Will they recommend vaxing them as teens, to prevent the possibility of serious infection as an adult?

[vtmom3]

06:58 PM on 07/28/2011

In my effort to become better informed, where might I find info regarding the safety of the Tdap. My rising middle schooler is required to present documentation of a current Tdap. In addition, the school system is now recommending the following:

Meningococcal vaccine – protects against bacterial meningitis
· Flu – recommended to be given every year
· HPV4 – protects against strains of Human Papilloma Virus
· Hepatitis A vaccine is also available free of charge (1 year through 18 years)

[ThinkCreeps]

05:57 AM on 07/26/2011

Stay indoors during thunderstorms and get vaccinated against chickenpox. Double good news.

Millions of children and their carers also no longer need to suffer through at least one week of very significant illness.

Your last sentence, regarding a 10-year program is absurd.

[sabelmouse]

12:10 PM on 07/28/2011

i remember people just shaking in their boots regarding chicken pox when i grew up the terror, the fear.
how do keep those children from scratching ?

[ExpectAMiracle]

12:12 PM on 07/25/2011

O M G ! ! ! ! ! ! What a bunch of shameless liars. The nerve of these people.

If you can stand a little truth visit: http://www.whale.to/a/chickenpox.html

[Bike Commuter]

04:32 PM on 07/25/2011

Yes, whale.to is filled with shameless Iiars. The nerve of those people. Of course, that is why Scopie's Law exists, which states that anyone citing whale.to as a credible source gets laughed at.

[StThomas]

09:25 PM on 07/25/2011

If you like whale.to do you buy into the antisemitism,holocaust denial or black helicopters?
I'll give you chapter and verse on Scopie's law as well

http://www.whale.to/a/protocols_h.html
http://www.whale.to/b/holocaust_revisionism.html
http://www.whale.to/b/black_helicopters.html

http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Scopie's_Law

[Taximom5]

07:33 PM on 07/28/2011

StThomas, isn't it illegal to post a website that is intended to look like whale.to (or any other organization or individual) is espousing holocaust denial? Isn't falsely ascribing words or ideals to individuals/organization libel? Or are you slandering here?

[onionboy]

12:09 PM on 07/25/2011

Had a bad uncontrolled fever from chickenpox when I was a kid. Fever is caused by a lot of things, but in my case, it was chickenpox. I had wild hallucinations. To this day, 30+ years later, I still have terrifyingly "bad trip" flashbacks to those hallucinations...not often, maybe once a year.

I think it's made me prejudiced against chickenpox. I give an internal sneer at it whenever I read articles like this.

[GarySGoldman]

06:41 PM on 07/28/2011

If you were especially reactive to the varicella-zoster virus which produces Chickenpox (or varicella), there is a likelihood you would have also reacted adversely to the live-virus chickenpox vaccine (even though it is an attenuated or weakened strain). Numerous adverse reactions to the vaccine are reported in the literature...here are a few:

1. Sunaga Y, Hikima A, Ostuka T, Morikawa A. Acute cerebellar ataxia with abnormal MRI lesions after varicella vaccination. Pediatr Neurol. 1995 Nov; 13(4):340–2. [2 year old boy with staggering gait and difficulty speaking.]

2. Naruse H, Miwata H, Ozaki T, Asano Y, Namazue J, Yamanishi K. Varicella infection complicated with meningitis after immunization. Acta Paediatr Jpn 1993 Aug;35(4):345–7.

3. Lee SY, Komp DM, Andiman W. Thrombocytopenic Purpura following varicella-zoster vaccination. Am J Pediatr Hematol Oncol, 1986 Spring; 8(1):78–80.

4. Wirrell E, Hill MD, Jadavji T, Kirton A, Barlow K. Stroke after varicella vaccination. J Pediatr, 2004 Dec; 146(6):845–7.
2 children presented with acute hemiparesis 5 days and 3 weeks, respectively, following varicella vaccination. Both showed unilateral infarction of the basal ganglia and internal capsule, a distribution consistent with varicella angiopathy. Both children had small patent foramen ovale (PFO), and one child also had severe iron-deficiency anemia, which may have predisposed the patient to this adverse effect.

I can provide documentation for another 50 adverse reactions given in peer-reviewed literature.

[Dyson]

06:43 AM on 07/31/2011

Gary, providing published case histories of reactions after vaccination is pointless. These reactions are extremely rare. Did you wonder why they are published in the medical literature? If they were common, a single case report would never see the light of day in an academic publication, one would have to write up a case series or a review. It is precisely because of their rarity value that they have publishable currency.

Also, please consider that the vaccine consists of live, but weakened VZV. This means that inevitably there may be some physiological effects/responses to the attenuated virus. This might include rare or minor illnesses.

But consider this - the natural, unweakened virus, would cause ALL of these problems at a far, far higher frequency and severity. So parents letting their kids get natural chickenpox are risking all the "adverse reactions" you seem to be worried about, and then some.

For instance, here is a list of chickenpox complications:
- Secondary skin sepsis in up to 42% including invase Streptococcal sepsis, cellulitis, myositis, necrotizing fasciitis and toxic shock syndrome.
- Neurological problems in up to 9%, including diffuse encephalitis, cerebellar ataxia, Reye's syndrome, focal deficits (stroke), aseptic meningitis, transverse myelitis, vasculitis, and hemiplegia.
- Pneumonia, pneumonitis, hepatitis, pericarditis, gastrointestinal hemorrhage, otitis, gastroenteritis.