Uptrend prevalence of varicella parallel with low serum antibodies and low second-dose rate among children 10-14 years old in Wenzhou, China

Abstract

ABSTRACT In recent years, the incidence of varicella cases is rising, and outbreaks of varicella are frequently being reported worldwide. Our study aims to analyze the association between the varicella incidence and serum antibody level in the post-vaccine era. We retrieved and analyzed the incidence and prevalence data for children age 1–14 years in Wenzhou, China during 2010–2018. A cross-sectional seroepidemiology analysis was carried out in a series of 168 general healthy children age 1–14 years as well as children at a varicella outbreak in Wenzhou. Our data showed a significant surge in the incidence and prevalence of varicella in children aged 10–14 years in 2017 and 2018 while they were kept relatively stable in 2010–2016. The seroepidemiological analysis revealed a 7.3-fold significantly higher level of serum varicella IgG in healthy control students who exposed at the outbreak than that in general healthy children (median 523.5 vs. 71.7 mIU/mL, p < .01). The children 10–14 years old had the lowest rate of second-dose vaccination among the three age classes (7%, 41%, and 65% in 10–14, 5–9, and 2–4 age class, respectively), and children 5–9 years old who received the second dose had a higher level of serum protective IgG than those who did not (254.7 vs 98 mIU/mL, p = .06). The findings from the present study warn a two-dose vaccine schedule to reduce the climbing incidence and prevalence observed in the older children and suggest a higher serum IgG threshold for effective protection of children from the varicella outbreak.