1Department of Virology, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh-160 012, India.
2School of Tropical Medicine Public Health, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh-160 012, India.
Abstracts of the papers presented at the XVIII National Conference of Indian Virological Society at Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India, December 11–13, 2008.
An outbreak occurs whenever a naive community is exposed to a novel organism. Chickenpox infection is rare in the developed countries due to an effective vaccination programme, but can assume an epidemic form in unvaccinated communities. The present paper deals with an outbreak of chickenpox involving 162 children and adults in a village on the outskirts of Chandigarh in December 2007. Interestingly the sister of the index case was a tutor from whom around thirty five children were exposed to the infection and lead tomany cases. Blood samples were collected from 20 cases of suspected chickenpox infection and also from 15 asymptomatic controls in the same community to test for Varicella zoster virus specific IgM and IgG antibodies by ELISA. In addition, from two patients with active lesions showing vesicles, slides were made for Tzanck smear and antigen detection by immunofluorescence. Majority of the cases were older children and young adults with a mean age of 11.6 years. All cases showed positive results by IgM ELISA for VZV while all controls were negative. VZV IgG antibodies were detected in 19 cases and 5 control subjects. Active lesions were Tzanck smear and IF positive. This investigation clearly highlights the urgent need to identify communities naive to serious infections and protect them by available vaccines.
