Most people who were born prior to the 1990s at one point in their life acquired Varicella, also known as chicken pox. I remember having chicken pox when I was in elementary school. I remember how prevalent it was, especially in school-aged children. Now, as an adult I have noticed that there isn’t many children who get this infectious disease. This is due to a vaccine that was licensed in 1995 (“Varicella”). Despite the fact that there is a vaccine, there are still outbreaks of Varicella.
Until the 1900s, Varicella was sometimes confused with small pox, a much more serious disease. The first description given of Varicella was from Giovanni Filippo (1510-1580) (“Shortnotes of History.”). Over the years, physicians and scientists who encountered Varicella discovered that it was different from small pox and it was indeed infectious. It wasn’t until 1972 when
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The varicella vaccine is a safe and effective way to prevent the disease. Currently there are three licensed VZV-containing vaccines in the United States: varicella vaccine, combination measles-mumps-rubella-varicella vaccine (MMRV) and herpes zoster vaccine. The Varicella vaccine is a live-attenuated viral vaccine for persons 12 months of age and older (“Varicella”). In September 2005, the FDA licensed the combined live-attenuated MMRV for persons 12 months through 12 years of age. The herpes zoster vaccine was approved by the FDA in May 2006 for people 60 years of age and older which was later changed in 2011 to 50 through 59 years of age (“Varicella”). The CDC recommends children receive two doses of the Varicella vaccine separated by a minimum interval of 3 months between the doses. Adults and adolescents who do not have evidence of varicella immunity should be administered two additional doses separated by at least 4 weeks. As previously mentioned, even though a person might have been vaccinated they can still acquire the