Comments on: Varicella vaccine: Did Merck pull a fast one? http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2007/03/varicella-vaccine-did-merck-pull-fast.html medical blog Sun, 22 Nov 2009 07:50:13 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Anonymous http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2007/03/varicella-vaccine-did-merck-pull-fast.html/comment-page-1#comment-73928 Anonymous Sat, 14 Apr 2007 22:00:00 +0000 http://clients.emmense.com/kevinmd/2007/03/varicella-vaccine-did-merck-pull-a-fast-one.html#comment-73928 Each time an adult is exposed to a child with chickenpox, the adult receives an immunological boost that helps postpone or suppress the reactivation of herpes zoster (shingles). Universal varicella vaccination has severely decreased the exogenous boosting that previously occurred naturally in the community, thus the incidence of shingles among adults will rise. Also, the effectiveness of the varicella vaccine decreases over time, thus creating the potential for much more serious chickenpox disease among adults. More information is available at www.drGoldmanONLINE.com<br/><br/> Previously, over 20 years in Japan, only 1 out of 5 children were vaccinated. The 4 out of 5 remaining children that went on to contract natural chickenpox provided an immunologic boost to those that received the varicella vaccination, so that vacinees remained protected. This is not the case in the U.S. were every healthy child is vaccinated. There are no longer exogenous exposures to children with natural chickenpox to provide a subclinical immunological boost to protect against varicella. The live virus is also creating mutated varicella-zoster virus strains, increasing the number of individuals that contract varicella twice (due to exposure to heterologous strains). Each time an adult is exposed to a child with chickenpox, the adult receives an immunological boost that helps postpone or suppress the reactivation of herpes zoster (shingles). Universal varicella vaccination has severely decreased the exogenous boosting that previously occurred naturally in the community, thus the incidence of shingles among adults will rise. Also, the effectiveness of the varicella vaccine decreases over time, thus creating the potential for much more serious chickenpox disease among adults. More information is available at http://www.drGoldmanONLINE.com

Previously, over 20 years in Japan, only 1 out of 5 children were vaccinated. The 4 out of 5 remaining children that went on to contract natural chickenpox provided an immunologic boost to those that received the varicella vaccination, so that vacinees remained protected. This is not the case in the U.S. were every healthy child is vaccinated. There are no longer exogenous exposures to children with natural chickenpox to provide a subclinical immunological boost to protect against varicella. The live virus is also creating mutated varicella-zoster virus strains, increasing the number of individuals that contract varicella twice (due to exposure to heterologous strains).

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