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Evidence summaries

Vaccines for Post-Exposure Prophylaxis Against Varicella (Chickenpox) in Children and Adults

Varicella vaccine administered within three days to children following household contact with a varicella case may reduce infection rates and severity of cases. There are no RCTs for adolescents or adults. Level of evidence: "C"

The quality of evidence is downgraded by study limitations (unclear allocation concealment) and by imprecise results (few patients).

Summary

A Cochrane review [Abstract] 1 included 3 studies with a total of 110 children who were siblings of household contacts. Overall, 13 out of 56 vaccine recipients (23%) developed varicella compared with 42 out of 54 placebo (or no vaccine) recipients (78%). Of the vaccine recipients who developed varicella, the majority only had mild disease (with fewer than 50 skin lesions). In the three trials, most participants received post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) within three days following exposure; too few participants were vaccinated four to five days post-exposure to ascertain the efficacy of vaccine given more than three days after exposure. No included trial reported on adverse events following immunisation.

Clinical comments

Note

Date of latest search: 2014-03-18

References

  • Macartney K, Heywood A, McIntyre P. Vaccines for post-exposure prophylaxis against varicella (chickenpox) in children and adults. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2014;(6):CD001833. [PubMed].

Primary/Secondary Keywords