Administration of live varicella vaccine to children wtih leukaemia
Brunell, P.A.; Shehab, Z.; Geiser, C.; Waugh, J.E.
Lancet 2(8307): 1069-1073
1982
ISSN/ISBN: 0140-6736 PMID: 6127546 Document Number: 189828
Live varicella vaccine was given to 23 children with lymphoreticular malignancies, 12 whose chemotherapy was complete and 11 who were still receiving therapy. Seroconversion was observed in all 23 children, only 1 of whom lost his vaccine-induced antibody. Of the children, 8 experienced 13 exposures to varicella, including 4 continuing exposures in their households. Varicella, manifested by the appearance of 7 vesicular lesions, developed in only 1. In all but 2 of the children an in vitro blastogenic response to varicella/zoster-virus (VZV) antigen developed; both children had a biphasic rash after immunization. A sibling of 1 of these children seroconverted without clinical evidence of varicella, presumably because of infection with vaccine virus. None of the other household contacts had significant rises in VZV antibody. VZV was not isolated from the blood, throat or urine samples of the 23 vaccines needed.