Chickenpox Vaccine Reduces Deaths: Study

February 03, 2005

Deaths resulting from chickenpox in the United States have hit an all-time low, thanks to a national vaccination program that was introduced in 1995, according to a study released yesterday.

In the five years before the introduction of the the vaccination program, an average of 145 deaths per-year were attributed to chickenpox. That number dropped significantly to 66 each year between 1999 to 2001.

The greatest death rate reduction observed by the researchers was 92 percent, among children 1 to 4 years of age.

With 85 percent of young children in the U.S. getting a chickenpox vaccination, cases of the disease have dropped to 800,000 a year from 4 million just a year ago.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report appears in in the Feb. 3 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Chickenpox is an infectious disease caused by the varicella-zoster virus which results in a blister-like rash, itching, tiredness and fever.

Chickenpox is highly infectious and spreads from person to person by direct contact or through the air from an infected person’s coughing or sneezing. A person with chickenpox is contagious 1-2 days before the rash appears and until all blisters have formed scabs.