Abstract
Purpose of the study Primary varicella infection in the HIV population can have serious sequelae. The HIV non-VZV immune population is at risk of attack rates of up to 90% from infected household contacts, who are predominantly children. Universal childhood varicella vaccination is currently under review in Ireland. New recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunisation Practices (MMWR) 2007 include expanding the use of varicella vaccine for HIV-infected adults and adolescents with CD4 >200, with vaccination of household contacts of those with CD4<200. These guidelines prompted us to review our HIV patient cohort, 30% of whom are from sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), reflecting the changing demographics of the Irish population. VZV non-immunity is known to be higher in the SSA population.
Highlights
The HIV non-VZV immune population is at risk of attack rates of up to 90% from infected household contacts, who are predominantly children
Current guidelines advise that non-immune patients with CD4 counts >200 can be vaccinated, whereas those with CD4 counts
Educating patients re household contact vaccination is difficult in this population
Summary
Address: Department of Genito Urinary Medicine & Infectious Diseases, St. James's Hospital, Dublin, Ireland * Corresponding author from Ninth International Congress on Drug Therapy in HIV Infection Glasgow, UK. Published: 10 November 2008 Journal of the International AIDS Society 2008, 11(Suppl 1):P293 doi:10.1186/1758-2652-11-S1-P293. Abstracts of the Ninth International Congress on Drug Therapy in HIV Infection Meeting abstracts – A single PDF containing all abstracts in this Supplement is available here. http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1758-2652-11-S1-info.pdf
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