THURSDAY, April 11 (HealthDay News) -- A case of varicella death of an unvaccinated, previously healthy adolescent in Ohio was reported in the April 12 Morbidity and Mortality and Weekly Report.
Jeremy Budd, of the Division of Viral Diseases, National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, U.S. Center for Disease Control in Atlanta, and colleagues reviewed and reported a case of an adolescent girl who died from varicella infection.
According to the researchers, the adolescent girl was admitted to the hospital with a three-day history of a rash consistent with varicella and a one-day history of fever and dyspnea. Subsequently, varicella-zoster virus was identified in the vesicular fluid from a skin specimen. Despite treatment with intravenous acyclovir, board spectrum antibiotics and anti-fungals, she died three weeks after hospital admission. According to her vaccination records, she did not receive varicella vaccine, as she lived in a community with low rates of varicella vaccination.
"The case underscores the importance of varicella vaccination, including catch-up vaccination of older children and adolescents, to prevent varicella and its serious complications," the authors write.
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